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A Turkish court on Friday sentenced the daughter of the singer known as Gullu to aggravated life in prison for killing her mother, who fell to her death from a sixth-floor window last year in a case that drew wide public attention.
The Yalova 1st High Criminal Court found Tugyan Ulkem Gulter, 28, guilty of premeditated murder of a woman and an ascendant, the charge for killing one’s own parent.
Gulter, who has been in custody since the investigation began, denied the charges and wept at times during the hearing.
Her mother, whose legal name was Gul Tut, died Sept. 26, 2025, after falling from the window of her daughter’s room at the family’s home in the Cinarcik district, according to the indictment. The fall was from a height of about 18 meters (60 feet) onto concrete.
Prosecutors argued the killing was premeditated and based their case on text messages, witness statements, audio analysis, expert reports, and Gulter’s behavior after the incident.
According to the indictment, an audio analysis by Istanbul Technical University concluded that a young woman’s voice was heard saying “See you later” moments before the fall. Investigators attributed the voice to Gulter.
Prosecutors alleged that she then lifted her mother by the legs and pushed her out the window.
The lawyer for Tut’s sister, Kader Tut, who joined the case as a complainant, told the court that messages in the case file showed Gulter wishing her mother dead.
The lawyer also cited audio recordings as evidence that a song was played at home on the night of the incident, shortly before Tut went to the room, to draw her toward the window.
A government lawyer from the Ministry of Family and Social Services, who took part in the case, also called for a conviction.
Gulter’s lawyer said the allegations had been disproven during the trial.
He argued that the main witness, Gulter’s friend Sultan Nur Ulu, who was in the room at the time, was lying and that others in the case file had falsely implicated his client.
He also said Tut had fallen before and was intoxicated that night, and he played recordings meant to support that account. Ulu, who was placed under house arrest early in the investigation, faces a separate trial on a charge of false testimony, which carries two to four years in prison.
In her final statement, Gulter said she did not see her mother fall. "If I had, I would have tried to catch her," she said. "Even if we argued, we are mother and daughter."
"I am here as a defendant, but I am a victim," she said, adding that she had been called a "mother killer" in public.
Gulter’s son, Tugberk Yagiz Hamza Gulter, who was a complainant in the case, was seen crying as recordings of his grandmother’s voice were played in court.
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