Background
Felemez Kulaç lived in the Hasköy district of Muş. On 31 October 2011 he died in an armed attack near a concrete plant in Karaağaçlı, a town in the district. The Muş Chief Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation, but those responsible could not be identified at the time and the file remained unsolved.
A long-running feud between two families later emerged as a focus of the investigation.
What happened
According to official statements and news reports, Kulaç was struck by several bullets; the cause of death was reported as brain haemorrhage and injury to a major blood vessel. Because his route was known, investigators later assessed the attack as possibly planned. No suspects could be reached in the first investigation.
For the family, those years meant carrying not only the loss but also years of unanswered questions.
Karaağaçlı is one of Hasköy's small settlements, and in small communities the effect of such a loss is felt for years. The victim's relatives kept following the file after the investigation closed. The methods used in the reopened file included re-evaluating old case records, witness statements and phone data.
Investigation and legal process
On 24 April 2026 the Unsolved Crimes Research Department was created within the Justice Ministry, and this file was taken up again. On 30 June 2026 the department asked the Muş criminal judgeship of peace to lift the earlier decision not to prosecute; the decision was lifted on 1 July 2026.
Investigators said the feud between the families traced back to an incident in 1988. According to reports, mobile-phone tower data suggested that several suspects had scouted the scene together before the attack, and that the person believed to have fired the weapon left the country through the Kapıkule border crossing on the night of 2 November 2011. These are claims by the investigating authorities.
On 8 September 2026, 11 suspects were detained in simultaneous operations and referred to court after gendarmerie procedures. Efforts continue regarding suspects said to be abroad. No one has been convicted, and the presumption of innocence applies to everyone involved.
Where it stands today
The Kulaç file is also read as an example of how long-running family feuds can reproduce themselves in unresolved and dangerous ways. The aim of the legal process is for the events to be clarified through evidence and responsibility to be determined in court. Dark Location presents this page in memory of Felemez Kulaç and to draw attention to unsolved files.