Turkish man kills doctor who protected his ex-wife, commits suicide

SAMSUN

A doctor was killed by a man, who also committed suicide, when she attempted to protect her secretary who was the attacker’s ex-wife in the Black Sea province of Samsun on Nov. 19. 

Doctor Aynur Dağdemir was fatally injured when Yusuf Demirbaş attacked her and her secretary with a knife in a private hospital in Samsun on Nov. 19. Dağdemir was taken to surgery in the same hospital but she succumbed to her injuries. After attacking Dağdemir, Demirbaş jumped out of the window from the fifth floor of the hospital. He was taken to another hospital for his injuries but later died. The attacker was the ex-husband of Ş.A., the secretary of Dağdemir. It is reported that the doctor came out of her room when she heard a quarrel between Ş.A. and Demirbaş. Dağdemir attempted to protect Ş.A. but was injured by the attacker. Femicide at the hands of men is a major problem in Turkey. Despite a number of public initiatives, Turkey has failed to prevent or decrease the number of women killed by male relatives, friends and strangers. Marriage proposal rejections, along with divorce, are some of the reasons women have been killed in Turkey. Turkey has also seen a rise in violence against medical personnel, surgeons in particular, with several surgeons killed recently.

Thoracic surgeon Kamil Furtun, 56, was shot dead while on duty at a hospital in Samsun late May. His killing sparked renewed debate and protests from a large number of medical associations and organizations across the country.

Doctors went on a nationwide one-day strike on June 1, after the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) called on its member to protest the killing of Furtun.