Istanbul, 26 October. Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry has confirmed the death of 26-year-old Kazakh citizen Aisulu Bekmakhanova in Istanbul, said ministry spokesman Zhanbolat Ussenov.
"The competent Turkish authorities are investigating, and the circumstances are being clarified. The matter is under the control of the Foreign Ministry," he said.
According to Turkey's DHA news agency, she died on the morning of 25 October in the Şişli district: she climbed from a sixth-floor balcony onto the roof of a neighbouring building, stepped onto an awning covering a gap and fell to the second basement level. Paramedics pronounced her dead. Why she was on the neighbouring roof is not known.
On the prosecutor's orders, police detained two people: a 22-year-old Russian woman with whom she shared a flat, and a 35-year-old shop owner with whom, according to DHA, she was in a relationship. Whether they are suspected of involvement in her death has not been reported. The body was sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine. According to the agency, Bekmakhanova arrived in Türkiye visa-free on 8 September. Kazakh diplomats are in touch with her relatives and are providing them with consular and legal assistance.
What it means: The circumstances of her death remain unclear: officially, only a fall from a height is known; the detention of two people means Turkish investigators are also checking other versions.
Who benefits: Nobody. For her family, what matters is the outcome of the forensic examination and the investigation; the ministry promises to keep the case under control.
Background: According to DHA, Bekmakhanova came to Istanbul with a friend and lived with her in the Ergenekon neighbourhood of Şişli; the flatmate woke up to loud music, could not find her in the flat and saw the damaged roof of the neighbouring building.
