Grand Wedding With Night Oil Wrestling Ends in Alleged Fraud as Bride Disappears With Gold Worth 5 Million Lira

A lavish wedding in Muğla’s Milas district, complete with a traditional night oil-wrestling event, has ended in an alleged fraud case.

The Ateşoğlu family organized the three-day celebration on Aug. 19 to marry their son, Mehmet Ateşoğlu, to 28-year-old Uzbek national Mamura Burkhanova. The family reportedly spent about 10 million lira on the wedding.

The event featured night oil wrestling, a tradition said to date back 500 years in the region, and welcomed famous başpehlivans from the Kırkpınar wrestling tournament. European champion Feyzullah Aktürk served as the lead wrestler, and Burkhanova presented the medal. The wrestling event alone reportedly cost 1.5 million lira.

The family said Burkhanova disappeared sometime after the wedding. When they could not reach her, they checked the house and found that jewelry worth about 5 million lira, given to the bride during the wedding, was also missing. The family filed a complaint with the Milas Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, and police began searching for the bride and the gold.

The groom’s father, Mustafa Ateşoğlu, said he was seeking dignity rather than the money. “I am not after the money that is gone. I am after my honor and pride,” he said.

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I am not after the money that is gone. I am after my honor and pride.