Opposition to daughter's marriage may have preceded double stabbing: Report

The stabbing to death of two Irish women in Turkey may have happened after one of the dead women refused to allow the teenage murder suspect marry her daughter, local reports have said.

The two women, thought to be from Co Down and carrying Irish passports, were found murdered in a forest just outside the city of Izmir, about 75 miles from the resort of Kusadasi, sources said.

A 17-year-old Turkish youth, understood to be the boyfriend of a daughter of one of the women, has been arrested. It is believed he has confessed to the attack.

An Irish diplomat has been dispatched from Ankara to Izmir to liaise with Turkish police.

A local hotelier from Kusadasi has also travelled to the city to be with daughter of one of the dead women.

The teenage murder suspect is being interviewed by Turkish police, with local reports from the Anatolia news agency suggesting that one possible line of investigation centres on claims that the girl’s mother had refused to allow the young couple to marry.

The daughter was not with the women when they were attacked.

It is believed one of the women, who owned property in Kusadasi, had spent long spells in the popular resort on the Aegean coast.

The area is visited by thousands of Irish and British holidaymakers every summer.