Özgür DENGIZ

AKA "The Cannibal of Ankara"

Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Argument / Cannibalism
Number of victims: 3
Date of murders: 1997 / June-September 2007
Date of arrest: September 14, 2007
Date of birth: 1980
Victims profile: One of his friends / Sedat Erzurumlu / Cafer Er, 55
Method of murder: Shooting
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Status: Sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1997. Released in 2001. Sentence unknown

Özgür Dengiz (born 1980) is a Turkish serial killer and cannibal. Captured on September 14, 2007 in Ankara, he admitted killing two men, attempting to murder another man and cannibalising one of his victims. He is nicknamed the "Cannibal of Ankara".

Early years

Özgür Dengiz was born to Satılmış, a non-commissioned officer and veteran of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, and Sultan, a seamstress. He fought with his parents constantly, and often ran away from home. He did not continue his education after finishing middle school.

When he was 17, he killed one of his friends during an argument, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He served three years of the sentence before being released on parole.

He then joined the army at his father's insistence. During his military service, he was hospitalized several times for psychological problems.

After completing his service, he returned to Ankara. His mother opened a tailor shop for him; however, he did not stop by even briefly.

Crimes

On June 5, 2007 Dengiz killed Sedat Erzurumlu, a computer engineer, who angered him by saying they could not afford to buy the laptop they had been looking at. Dengiz stole two laptops from the store, and took also his victim's mobile phone with him. Later on, Dengiz tried to sell one of the laptops, but was cheated out of the money. He kept the other one at home.

On August 9, 2007, he met Abbas İnan at the public garbage dump in Mamak, Ankara, and shot him eight times in the head and stomach. İnan survived, however.

On September 12, 2007, Dengiz shot a garbage collecter at the Mamak Dump. A few hours later, he met Cafer Er, a 55-year-old municipal worker, and killed him after a brief conversation by shooting him in the head twice from behind. He dragged his victim's body off and put it in his car. Then, he skinned the corpse with a cleaver; he ate some of it raw and put the rest in his bag. He wrapped the body in a cloth and put it in the trunk. He abandoned the corpse at the Mamak Dump and returned to the apartment he shared with his parents. He gave a piece of flesh to stray dogs outside his apartment. He put the remaining flesh in the refrigerator.

Capture

Cafer Er had been missing for days when his corpse was discovered in the Mamak Dump. On closer examination, it became apparent that he had been murdered, his body mutilated and large chunks of flesh cut from the soft parts of his body. Further investigation revealed that Er had last been seen arguing with a young man in the park he was responsible for keeping clean.

The police soon traced Dengiz with the help of recording of calls Dengiz made with the mobile phone he had stolen from his second victim Erzurumlu, but lost at the last murder scene. They conducted a search of his apartment for evidence, and discovered fresh meat in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. They took samples for analysis, which proved the positive identification of a human arm, buttock and thigh.

Questioning and arrest

Dengiz showed no remorse for his crimes, saying he was irresistibly drawn to eating human flesh. The only emotion he is said to have exhibited as he explained his behavior was to break into fits of laughter. He said he would have kept killing had he not been caught.

After making his statement, Dengiz was arrested by the court, pending trial.

Cannibalism in Islam

Dengiz's crimes caused public outcry in Turkey, where cannibalism is rarely acknowledged (or, indeed, mentioned) because of strong cultural taboos.

According to Fazile Zahir, a Turkish Cypriot journalist:

"Cannibalism has occurred in serial-killing cases in Christian countries, but Islam's taboos against meat that has not been killed in a halal manner and the insistence that man is sacred (as he is God's image) seem to have stopped it occurring here. Dengiz appears to be Turkey's first man-eater and perhaps one of its few psychopaths."

Wikipedia.org

A meaty tale of sordid murder

By Fazile Zahir

Oct 3, 2007

"I love to eat human flesh. It makes me ecstatic. We are fools to have been eating beef for so long." - Ozgur Dengiz

FETHIYE, Turkey - Ozgur Dengiz was arrested in the Mamak area of Ankara recently for the murder and consumption of 55-year-old council worker Cafer Er.

Er had been missing for a week when the police discovered his corpse in the public garbage dump in Mamak. On closer examination of the body, it became apparent that Er had been murdered and his body mutilated. Large chunks of flesh had been cut from the soft parts of his body. Further investigation by the homicide squad turned up information that Er had last been seen arguing with a young man in the council park he was responsible for keeping clean.

The police soon traced Ozgur Dengiz, 27, and when they went to charge him and searched the apartment he shared with his parents for evidence, they allegedly discovered fresh meat in the refrigerator. Immediately suspicious because of the wounds to Er's body, samples were sent for analysis. These came back with the positive identification of human arm, thigh and buttock flesh, police say.

Dengiz showed no remorse for his alleged actions, saying he was irresistibly drawn to eating people. He coolly recounted what had taken place in his police statement:

I was walking around the area under Mamak Bridge. I had gone there to kill someone and had my special knife with me and a gun. I had already fired at someone gathering litter because they were cluttering up my space. Then I saw a man on a bench in the park and sat down next to him and struck up a conversation. After I got up [I] walked behind him and shot him twice. I dragged his body off and put it in the back seat of the car.

I cut off some meat with a cleaver. Then I felt [nauseated], so I ate some of it raw to get over that and put the rest in my bag. I found I liked the taste. Then I wrapped him in a black cloth and put him in the [luggage compartment] of my car and drove around the city for a while. Later I dumped his body at the [garbage dump] and went home. I gave some of his meat to the dogs outside my apartment and put the rest in the fridge.

The only emotion he is said to have exhibited as he explained his grotesque behavior was to break into fits of laughter.

Dengiz had killed before, shooting a friend after a trivial argument when he was 17 years old. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 1997 but was released after three under the terms of a "special conditions" amnesty. He also confessed to attacking Abbas, another council worker, a few months ago. Despite having been shot in the head and stomach, Abbas managed to escape. Dengiz said, "If he hadn't gotten away I would have cut him up too. I murder because I want to eat human flesh."

He was also found to be in possession of the gun used to murder computer engineer Sedat Erzurumlu, who was killed last month by a bullet to the head. He said he killed Erzurumlu because the engineer had said Dengiz could not afford to buy the laptop they had been looking at. Dengiz has been officially charged with "murder most monstrous".

Martha Stout in her book The Sociopath Next Door argues that the development of dangerous sociopathic behavior is due half to genetics and half to non-genetic influences. Psychologists and psychiatrists say the following environmental factors can create a psychopath (the most extreme form of sociopath):

- Studies show that 60% of psychopathic individuals have lost a parent.
- A child is deprived of love or nurturing; the parents are detached or absent.
- Inconsistent discipline: if one parent is stern and the other not, the child learns to hate authority and manipulate the soft parent.
- Hypocritical parents privately belittle their child while publicly presenting the image of a happy family.

Although it is probably impossible in any modern society to avoid creating the conditions that encourage the development of sociopaths and psychopaths, these personalities are rarer in Turkey than they are in the West, perhaps because children are less often neglected or unloved. However, Dengiz's family fulfilled at least one of the above environmental criteria. His father was a retired military man, strict and meticulous in his own habits, and it was he who turned his son in for killing his friend as a teenager. His mother made her living as a seamstress and indulged her son, recently renting a small shop for him and outfitting it as a tailor's in the hope that he would work there. In six months, he never set foot inside.

Cannibalism has occurred in serial-killing cases in Christian countries, but Islam's taboos against meat that has not been killed in a halal manner and the insistence that man is sacred (as he is God's image) seem to have stopped it occurring here. Dengiz appears to be Turkey's first man-eater and perhaps one of its few psychopaths.

Certainly his police statement and neighbor's comments indicate some key psychopathic traits. He was purposeless, consistently irresponsible and unable to hold down a job, antisocial and emotionally callous. To him other people were objects to be dealt with as he willed, and his lack of empathy or conscience empowered him to disregard the rights of others. He insists that his behavior was correct and has said, "I don't regret it, my conscience is clear. God told me I was to punish people. I think I will keep on killing and eating."

In a story so full of horror, there is only one light note. The Turkish for "cannibal" is yam yam, pronounced, rather ironically, "yum yum".

Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She moved to Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full-time since then.