Family kills lover of Mardin girl at Istanbul bus terminal, girl in critical condition

ISTANBUL / MARDİN

A young couple was stabbed Feb. 1 at a main bus terminal Istanbul, probably by kin of the 19-year-old female victim. DHA Photo

A young couple, who escaped from the southern province of Mardin to start a new life in Istanbul, was stabbed Feb. 1 at a main bus terminal in the city, probably by kin of the 19-year-old female victim. The woman was injured while the 25-year-old man, also her sister’s husband, lost his life.

The man, named Hamdullah Ayaydın, died at the Bayrampaşa terminal, while the woman, identified as “C. İ.,” was heavily wounded by multiple knife wounds and remains in critical condition. The suspects walked away after the deadly attack.

Witnesses said the man cried “my love,” as his last words. One witness said he heard the woman uttering “my brother,” when she saw a group of four people beginning to attack them as they get off the bus. 

The father of the woman told Doğan News Agency that Ayaydın, a truck driver, was the husband of his elder daughter.

He said Ayaydın visited the family at their home in the Mazıdağı town of Mardin the night before the murder, and left with his younger daughter to travel to Kızıltepe, telling the family that she could help him with his one-year-old baby while he was driving.

Another witness said “M.A.,” the wife of the victim, wanted the man to take her sister back and was beaten by her husband.

The couple then left Mardin for a bus terminal in a neighboring province and took a bus to Istanbul, where they would be attacked.

Co-wives are common in many provinces in Turkey.

The father of the victim had contacted the Mardin police department earlier, saying that his daughter had been kidnapped.