A student of journalism and a volunteer at women’s rights organizations, A.G.H. was just 21 years old. The young woman, who had denounced violence targeting women in one of her last social media posts, became one of the latest victims of femicides in Turkey.
The university student living and studying in the southern province of Antalya went missing on July 28 and her dismembered body was found five days later. A suspect, a man she allegedly met in a cafe, was arrested and confessed to the murder. Speaking after a funeral for her in the victim’s hometown in Osmaniye province, her father M.H. said any sentence less than life imprisonment without parole for the suspect would be inadequate.
The young woman’s murder once again stirred up public outrage against murders of women in the hands of men, either their spouses or strangers, and violence towards women. The latest official figures from 2020 show 385 women fell victim to femicides.
M.H. told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Wednesday that his daughter “did not deserve this.” “Can’t we trust other people anymore? I have confidence in the Turkish judiciary and hope he will get the punishment he deserves. He deserves aggravated life imprisonment. This is a brutal crime. He did not just kill her, he also tore her body apart and dumped it in a forest,” he said.
The suspect, identified as M.M.A., had first claimed that he was a former acquaintance of the victim and they had only had dinner. Upon further interrogation, he confessed that he killed A.G.H when she resisted his rape attempt.
