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Turkish singer shot in attack to be released from intensive care

26 March 2011 [13:48] - TODAY.AZ
Popular Turkish singer Ibrahim Tatlises, who was shot in an assassination attempt earlier this month, was to be released from intensive care Friday, dpa cited Turkish media as reporting.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Tatlises in hospital Friday, telling press afterwards that Tatlises would be moved out of intensive care and would begin undergoing physical therapy.

The 59-year-old singer, who is of Arab and Kurdish descent, has a larger-than-life persona and an enormous following in Turkey and the region.

Popularly known as "Ibo," Tatlises has starred in numerous Turkish films and has his own TV show, in addition to recorded dozens of albums over his long career.

Tatlises was shot in the head by assailants armed with Kalashnikov rifles shortly after midnight on March 14 after leaving a TV studio where he was filming a show.

Police have said the primary suspect behind the murder attempt is Abdullah Ucmak, a businessman with alleged mafia connections.

Ucmak is believed to have a grudge against Tatlises and was arrested in 2003 on charges of plotting to kill him.

As part of the ongoing investigation into the attack, police detained and questioned Ucmak and several others last week on suspicions that he had ordered hitmen to kill the singer.

Tatlises has been involved in wide-ranging business deals, including as an entrepreneur with major construction projects in northern Iraq, and some speculated that financial disagreements were behind the attempt on his life.

The singer - who survived two previous attempts on his life, in the 1990s - had filed a complaint to an Istanbul prosecutor in November after some of the companies he owns received threats by phone.


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URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/83164.html

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