President Gul Offers Condolences To His Italian Counterpart

ANKARA - Turkish President Abdullah Gul offered his condolences on Monday to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano over the death of Italian artist Giuseppina Pasqualino.
A statement by Presidential Press Center said President Gul telephoned his Italian counterpart and expressed the sorrow he felt over the death of Pasqualino.
Napolitano said Italy was closely following the great sensitivity shown by Turkish people and executives and thanked for this.
Italian artist Giuseppina Pasqualino, who was known as "Pippa Bacca" in her country, departed from the Italian city of Milan together with Silvia Moro, an artist friend of hers, on March 8th. The two artists were travelling to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv by hitchhiking in order to give a "peace message" to the world.
Pasqualino and Moro separated from each other in Istanbul on March 19th. Since March 31st, no contact could be established with Pasqualino.
The 33-year-old artist was found dead in a forest near Gebze town of the northwestern province of Kocaeli on April 12th.
The 38-year-old suspect of the murder, Murat Karatas, was arrested.

(AY)