A jilted Turkish man who fatally stabbed his teenage ex-girlfriend, who was a women’s rights activist, after he met her in a park has been given a reduced sentence for ‘good behaviour’.

The decision, which came after he said sorry in court, infuriated the teen girl’s family, especially after it was revealed that the ruling was made during his judgement on International Women’s Day earlier in the week.

Killer Eren Yildiz was 19 when he slashed the throat of his ex-girlfriend Gizem Canbulut, 17, eight times with a knife in a park in the district of Bucak in the south-western Turkish province of Burdur following an argument on 17th March last year.

He ran away but swiftly confessed to the crime and was arrested and taken into custody.

It had been widely expected that the defendant would be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, which is what was introduced in Turkey to replace the death penalty.

Those sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment can only be paroled after serving at least 30 years behind bars, or 36 years, if given more than one sentence.

However, during the judgement, which was held on 8th March, which is commemorated across the world as International Women’s Day, the court decided to apply so-called ‘good conduct’ and ‘unfair provocation’ discounts to the sentence.

This means that instead of being imprisoned for a minimum of 30 years, Yildiz will only have to serve 20 years behind bars for the killing.

In Turkish law, a ‘good conduct’ or ‘reputation’ discount is applied at the judge’s discretion and takes into account the defendant’s background and how he or she acted after the crime and during the trial.

It is believed Yildiz was granted the discount simply for claiming he was sorry, as he told the court during the hearing: “I regret this incident, I am ashamed. I am also ashamed at being tried for such a crime on a day like this.

“I was a humanitarian before this incident. I’m calling out to all women in Turkey, I didn’t do it on purpose. I just remember that I took the knife out of my pocket and then I saw Gizem was lying on the floor. I want to be punished for it.”

The victim’s family members attended the judgement and later told reporters they were devastated all over again, given the outcome.

The victim’s dad Hasan Canbulut said: “Twenty years, albeit severe, is a temporary punishment. I wanted 40 to 50 years, I wanted life.”

The victim had been described in reports as a young feminist who often shared social media posts about the high number of femicides in Turkey.

In one post in July 2020, after the dead body of Turkish woman Pinar Gultekin was found in the province of Mugla, she wrote: “Living in Turkey as a woman is hard, women die far too easily.”

Femicide is a growing problem in Turkey, particularly after the country officially quit the Istanbul Convention in July last year.

According to the 2021 Annual Data Report announced by the ‘We Will Stop Femicide Platform’, 280 women were killed by men in 2021, while 217 women were found suspiciously dead.

According to data from the ‘Monument Counter’, which is a monument established on the Internet to keep alive the memory of the women who died due to violence against women in Turkey and which is updated every day, 74 femicides have taken place since the beginning of 2022.