Children are the biggest victims of the fight in Kartepe: '5 people attacked my father, they slammed his head against an ATV'

The incident occurred within the grounds of the sealed Kartepe Green Park Hotel. According to the information obtained, a group of approximately 15 people who arrived from Istanbul in 4 vehicles rented 5 ATVs from a business in the region to entertain their children. A dispute arose during the tour when business employees kept stopping and starting, and allegedly, a guide took the vehicle key, saying, "Your tour is over."

The incident escalated after business employees claimed that one person in the group had punched their 15-year-old friend. Allegedly, with the involvement of other employees called to the area, a group of about 20 people attacked the vacationing family. Following the events, the parties filed mutual complaints against each other. The incident was recorded moment by moment by citizens on mobile phone cameras.

"Your tour is over, this is as far as it goes"

Naci Kaanoğlu stated that the holiday they came for to entertain their children ended in disaster. Describing what happened, Kaanoğlu said, "We wanted to pay by card, but they said they only worked with cash. For this reason, we paid in cash. We paid approximately 20 thousand TL and rented 5 ATVs. They made us wait for 10-15 minutes. Then the tour guide arrived. We proceeded with the ATVs, but we had difficulties in moving forward. It was all stop-and-go, and a 40-minute duration had already been set. I perceived that they were trying to waste time with the stop-and-go. There were remarks like 'Don't go right, don't go left, don't leave the channel,' and so on, and they stopped again. I asked, 'Why are you stopping?' He said, 'You are going off the road.' After all, we are in Kartepe and riding an ATV; there cannot be a rule for this. I hadn't even gone into the forest; I was continuing in the lane. The guide in front took our key. He said, 'Your tour is over, this is as far as it goes.' It was an absurd situation. After we entered into a verbal argument, the nature of the incident changed," he said.

"They beat us in front of our children, we had a disastrous day"

Stating that the argument turned into a brawl, Kaanoğlu said, "They beat us in front of our children. There were 2 of them, and suddenly they became 20. There were other families who came for a holiday and were having a barbecue; they also noticed this situation and filmed it. We had an incredibly disastrous day; it was very bad. We brought the children for entertainment purposes, but we encountered a major problem. They pulled knives on us and threatened us with guns. They were all 18-20 years old. I think people who go there on holiday with their families and children should not encounter such people," he said.

"My world went dark when I saw my child's tears"

Ali Çetinkaya, who said he was attacked in front of his children, said, "We came from Istanbul to Kartepe to make our children happy. We are tradesmen. When I see such tradesmen, I feel an incredible sadness. We try to treat our customers well despite everything, we try to show sensitivity, and we are especially careful if there are children with them. We are very sad about yesterday's incident. We rented the tour entirely for the purpose of entertaining our children. The staff there were not good people at all. I had two daughters on the ATV. He took the key in front of the children and said, 'Get off, your tour is over.' I said, 'I didn't do anything wrong,' but he said, 'Your tour is over, get off. Otherwise, I will call my friends, I will send you away one way or another.'"

While we were saying 'don't do this,' 20 people arrived. They beat us. I never even raised my hand because I have my children, I have my wife. God forbid, if something small happened to them, the incident would have escalated. We showed all the courtesy to prevent the incident from escalating; our wives were very traumatized. My world went dark when I saw my child's tears," he said. Stating that he received a medical report for battery after the incident, Çetinkaya said, "Blood came from my ear and nose. While I was falling, 20 people hit my ribs and head with incredibly deadly blows. We also received a medical report for battery. We had a very difficult day," he said.

"I cried a lot, I was shaking"

One of the biggest victims of the incident was 10-year-old Esma Hazal Çetinkaya, one of the children who witnessed the violence. Describing the moments of fear she experienced, the child said, "I cried a lot, I was shaking, it was very cold. 5 people attacked my father, they slammed his head against the ATV. I was psychologically very affected. It was also very disrespectful for them to behave like that towards adults. My sibling and my friend were very sad, we were very affected. We were very sad that such actions were taken against our fathers. God forbid, something could have happened to my father, and we might have had to go to the hospital very urgently. I still feel very sad when I think about these things. Their business needs to be reviewed. Everything was very beautiful before, but afterwards, our holiday was ruined because of the actions of the people who attacked us," she expressed.

A child named Metehan, who was there at the time of the incident, said, "We got on the ATV; they made us wait a little before we got on. They had an argument among themselves. We got on the ATV and were going. Those who attacked us were saying 'stop-go' every now and then. Finally, my uncle said, 'Why are we doing stop-and-go?' Then the men came and started talking to us rudely and insulted us. We went a little further, the man said 'stop' again and made my uncle get off the ATV. He said, 'Your ATV riding ends here' and took the key; he made him get off as if he were a child. After they insulted us there, they tried to push us and the fight started. They had things like pocket knives and guns on their waists," he said.

Statement from the business: "They attacked the only child they saw"

In the statement made by the business, it was said, "It was stated to the citizens who claimed to have been beaten and robbed before the incident that their tour rights were cancelled because they did not follow the rules, and that is why they attacked the only child they saw. The images they gave to the press were taken by themselves and do not belong to the beginning of the incident. Thousands of tourists visit Kartepe every day for sightseeing and are hosted very well. The matter has been referred to the judiciary, and an investigation is being carried out by judicial authorities. However, it is not true that this issue is reflected as a father being beaten in front of his child. Before the images reflected in the press, our young friend, who was seen alone by the individuals, was beaten. The tradesman reflected on the camera during the images was trying to calm the parties down," it was said.