Turkish police on Tuesday detained a key suspect in the murder of Uzeyir Garih, a leading businessman and a prominent member of Turkey's Jewish community, Interior Minister Rustu Kazim Yucelen said.
The suspect, Yener Yermez, confessed to Turkish authorities that he murdered Garih in a Muslim cemetery, stabbing him seven times, the minister said, cited by the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Garih, 72, headed the ALARKO group, a heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning concern which also does construction work in Turkey and central Asia.
Police were able to locate Yermez through the use of satellite tracking technology after the suspect stole and made use of Garih's cellular telephone, said the paper.
The suspect is a Turkish soldier who fled from his unit. Garih's blood was found on the suspect's shirt, left behind on his military base.
It was not readily apparent to police whether the murder was nationalistically or criminally motivated, said the Israeli paper.
Garih, a well-known Israeli businessman, was also a newspaper columnist, supporting such positions as Turkey's expanding relations with Israel and Ankara's bid to join the European Union in his pieces for the English-language Turkish Daily News.
Privately-owned NTV television said Garih didn't take his bodyguards with him and didn't say where he was going when he set out on the day of his murder.
His Mercedes was found parked outside the cemetery – Albawaba.com
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