Drowning victim identified as OU doctoral student

By Tom Blakey

July 23, 2008 12:29 am

— Police Tuesday identified Mahmut Gokmen, 27, as the man found dead in the bottom of a swimming pool at an east Norman apartment complex.
Gokmen was a resident of the Summer Pointe Apartments, 1149 E. Brooks St., where a maintenance worker discovered his body shortly before 8 a.m. Monday, police said.
Gokmen was a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at the University of Oklahoma, according to a department official.
A departmental newsletter said Gokmen was from Turkey, and held bachelor's degrees in geography and sociology from the University of Istanbul, completing his master's degree at the University of Akron. He was a political geographer with interests in geopolitics, sovereignty, territoriality, and the history of geographical thought, with a regional focus on the Middle East, Turkey, Russia and the European Union.
Responding officers and emergency personnel found Gokmen face down in the bottom of the pool. He was wearing swimming trunks, and police said there was no indication of foul play.
"There's nothing to indicate it was anything but accidental," said Norman Police Capt. Leonard Judy. "There were no outward signs of trauma."
The medical examiner's office will assist in determining the cause, manner and time of death, officials said.
Tom Blakey 366-3540 tblakey@normantranscript.com