Turkish women rescued from 'Big Brother' house

Police storm villa on outskirts of Istanbul where captives were tricked into believing they were on reality TV
The luxury villa in Istanbul where nine Turkish girls were held.
The luxury villa in Istanbul where the nine Turkish women were held for two months. Photograph: Alban Donohoe/East Med Media

Turkish military police today said they had stormed a villa in Istanbul to rescue nine captive women, scantily-clad images of whom were posted online after they were recruited for what they were told was a reality TV show.

The women, who were rescued from the villa in Riva, a summer resort on the outskirts of Istanbul, on Monday, said they had believed they were being filmed for a Big Brother-style show confining a group of people to a house, Turkish media reported.

Instead, pictures of the women posing in bathing suits and exercising were distributed on a Turkish-language website that charged users money through their mobile phones to vote for their favorite woman and see more images.

The Dogan news agency and the HaberTurk newspaper said the women soon realised they had been duped and asked to leave the villa.

They were held captive for about two months, a spokesman for the military police in the region, who carried out the raid, told the Associated Press.

Hilmi Tufan Cakir, a lawyer representing the company that organised the show, said eight of the nine women had formally complained they were held against their will.

He claimed they had not actually been held captive, but added that he believed prosecutors were preparing an indictment against some company officials, charging them with holding the women.

"There is no question of them being forcibly held, there's no question of them being held captive," Cakir told the Associated Press.

He claimed the show was legitimate and had been broadcast on the internet to paying subscribers.

"My clients set up a competition with a money reward ... signed an agreement with nine girls for 13 weeks," Cakir said.

"They knew that this competition would be aired on the internet live and that this broadcast would not be open to everyone."

Cakir claimed the raid took place because the women became "bored" and one called her mother for help.

The villa's security guard was detained and released pending the outcome of a trial, he said.

Newspaper reports said the women had responded to an advertisement searching for contestants for a reality show that would be aired on a major Turkish television station.

The nine, including a teenager, were selected from a group of applicants following an interview, Dogan reported.

They were made to sign a contract that stipulated that they could have no contact with their families or the outside world and would have to pay a fine of 50,000 Turkish Lira fine (£20,000) if they left the show before two months had elapsed, the agency said.

The women were told they could not leave unless they paid the fine and those who insisted were threatened, it reported.

Broken glass could be seen at the entrance of the two-story stone villa and near its swimming pool today. A guard stood watch outside.

Cameras had been removed from the house, but cables were still stuck on walls and floors. A room at the entrance of the villa contained editing and video-monitoring equipment.

A handwritten sign on one door read: "No one can do their hair, touch the makeup or take clothes without permission." It was signed "Beste and Merve".

"We were not after the money but we thought our daughter could have the chance of becoming famous if she took part in the contest," HaberTurk quoted the mother of one of the women as saying. "But they have duped us all."

She said the women had not been sexually abused or harassed.

They were told however, to fight each other, wear bikinis and dance by villa's pool, the paper quoted her as saying.

"They may have been filmed in bikinis by the pool, but there were no cameras in the bathroom or showers," Cakir said.