On July 30, seven members of the Dedeoglu family were killed by armed assailants who tried to burn their house. The family had suffered another attack in May and was warned that they will not be allowed to live in the region because they are Kurds.

The agency named the suspect as Mehmut Altun, saying that he had hidden himself in a cemetery in a remote area since the murders.

The governor of Konya said that Altun confessed to the crime.

The Konya Governorate issued a short statement on the matter, saying Altun had been caught by police and gendarmerie forces.

On July 30, Altun drove a rental car to the Dedeoglu family’s home in a village in the Meram district. In security camera recordings, he was seen first talking with the head of the family, Yasar Dedeoglu, and opening fire on the whole family shortly after.

Altun set the house on fire as he drove off. The fire was put out shortly after, but seven members of the family lost their lives.

The Konya chief public prosecutor’s office detained 14 suspects in the immediate aftermath, while Altun remained at large. On Wednesday, 10 out of the 14 suspects were arrested, Prosecutor Ramazan Solmaz announced in a statement. The remaining four were released on judicial control.

The family’s lawyer Abdurrahman Karabulut said Altun had not planned the massacre on his own. “It has come to light that the aggressor family established a WhatsApp group to organize and plan the massacre following the May 12 attack on the family,” Karabulut said in a tweet.

A large group of 60 people had attacked the Dedeoglu home in May, breaking windows and seriously injuring one family member. The family continued to receive death threats from persons identifying themselves as members of the Ulku Ocaklari, the grassroots organization for the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Government officials and members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) denied any racist motive in the murders, saying there had been a long-standing disagreement between two families.

It was the second deadly attack on Kurds in Konya in a month.

On July 21, a Kurdish farmer was killed in a village in Konya by attackers who shouted "we don't want Kurds here," according to AFP.

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