Women wounded, child killed in cases of violence against women in Turkey

BALIKESİR/GAZİANTEP

Two men in two separate cases in Turkey opened fire on their former partners on Sept. 26, leading to the death of a six year-old girl in the western province of Balıkesir and the amputation of a woman’s leg in the southern province of Gaziantep.

In the first incident in the Balıkesir district of Edremit a man, identified only as Mehmet M., shot his former partner, identified only as 28-year-old Zeliha Ç., and her six-year-old daughter from inside a car, while Zeliha was taking her daughter to her first day of school.

The six-year-old girl died at the scene after she was shot in the head and chest and Zeliha’s left leg was badly wounded.

Zeliha had reportedly gone to live with her step-parents after Mehmet kicked her out of the apartment following fights over his decision to stay with his wife. Both were married to other people but were living together instead of with their spouses.

Mehmet had made threats and thrown stones at her home for a week before the shooting, and Zeliha had reported his threats to the police the night before.

“For a week, he kicked our door and rang the bell to assault us. Last night he came to our door again and threw stones at our windows. In the morning, he opened fire on us. Then he attempted to crash into me. I survived by climbing on a pole,” Süleyman Fener, Zeliha’s step-father, said on Sept. 27.

Fener also stated that the perpetrator, who was later caught by the police in Balıkesir, had “kidnapped” Zeliha one year ago.

Meanwhile, in another case, a four-months pregnant woman was badly injured after being tortured by her husband in Gaziantep.

Çağlar Aşık, 26, was reportedly tied up and tortured with a stick and a knife in front of their three children for 20 minutes by her husband, identified by initials M.A.A., who she had left three months ago. He then shot her in the leg with a rifle, leading to the amputation of her leg and necessitating the removal of the fetus from her womb in order to receive treatment.

Aşık had been married for seven years but she had left M.A.A. after he repeatedly subjected her to violent abuse. After the separation she and her three children moved in with her father. Her parents did not allow their daughter to go back to M.A.A.’s home for three months, but M.A.A. later moved into her parents’ home.

Her husband reportedly tortured Aşık after waking her in the middle of the night. She tried to stop him with a knife but he then taped her mouth, tied her up and tortured her for 20 minutes before shooting her.

“We thought the gunshots were coming from the street, or perhaps that they were fireworks. But then our son-in-law [M.A.A.] called us and told us he had killed our daughter. When we went downstairs, we could not believe what we saw. Our daughter was covered in blood and the grandchildren were frightened,” said Çağlar Aşık’s father Kemal Sönmez on Sept. 26.

Aşık’s parents have reportedly demanded that M.A.A., who also shot at the police before he was detained according to Sönmez’s testimony, be given the penalty he deserves.