According to information received, a suspicious vehicle was stopped at Martyrs’ Bridge at around 22:45 on July 15. Istanbul Police were notified about the suspicious vehicle.
Traffic in both directions was stopped while “SMA” was written on the vehicle. Traffic jams formed lines of cars for kilometers. “We believe that the incident on the bridge was the action of an individual. Police have stopped traffic on the bridge as a precautionary measure,” Istanbul’s governor said in a statement as police teams were dispatched to the scene. After a while, traffic flow from Anatolia to Europe was opened up, but the bridge was still found to be closed to one-way traffic.
CNN Türk Istanbul News Director Nihat Uludag provided the following information regarding the development:
A Linea brand car is blocking the road at right angles to the road. There are reports that the vehicle has writing on it. Police teams have closed both sides of the bridge for safety. Police teams are investigating what the perpetrator wanted to do by blocking the road and parking his car vertically. Special operations police are preparing an operation. Negotiation teams are currently in contact with the driver. They are continuing their efforts to persuade him to stop the protest.
Statement by Minister Yerkaya
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who made a statement about the incident on his social media account, said, “On July 15, at Martyrs Bridge, traffic on the bridge was closed in both directions because a vehicle with SMA written on it blocked the road. It turned out that the person driving the car, RCÇ, has been suffering from bipolar disorder for a year and a half, and that the police are negotiating with the person. He was persuaded and hijacked, and the public will be informed of how it develops,” he said.
“He made it look like it exploded from an electric bike battery.”
CNN Turk Istanbul News Director Nihat Uludag also provided the following information:
The suspect is being interrogated at Beşiktaş Police Station. He is very young, born in 1998. He has completed his military service and lives in Gaziosmanpaşa. His family was also asked about the situation. He said that the disease relapsed after his father returned from the army. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at a private hospital. The suspect is under house arrest for a long period of time. At one point, he dedicated himself to the poor. Then he became obsessed with SMA problems, he says. He bought an electric bike, removed the battery and decorated it as a bomb. He carved the mechanism inside the vehicle. The police first intervened in the case and after checking the mechanism, the negotiation team is notified. The internet flow and signal are cut off, fearing a remote-controlled explosion. He is currently being interrogated by a team of experts.
