A husband dragged his teenage wife outside by the hair and stabbed her repeatedly before he finished her off by slitting her throat.
The chilling, ISIS-style slaying took place in Pinarkent – in Denizli Province, south-western Turkey – in the early hours of 30th November.
Enraged Ahmet Emre Irmak, 24, had started arguing with his 18-year-old wife Elif Irmak in the home where they lived with his parents.
But things escalated when Ahmet’s father Hikmet Irmak, 52, tried to break up the row and his son stabbed him in the leg with a knife.
Ahmet then grabbed terrified Elif by the hair and dragged her out of the home to an empty field around 100 metres away.
There, he stabbed her in the chest, stomach, and back and ended the frenzied attack by slitting her throat.
He then left her slumped in a pool of her own blood and calmly returned home.
His mother Nazan Irmak witnessed the harrowing scene and immediately called emergency services.
But by the time paramedics arrived, Elif was already dead.
Gendarmerie arrested Ahmet in his home without resistance and seized the murder weapon. He has since been remanded in custody.
His injured father was taken to hospital in Denizli and is said to be out of danger.
Local media reported that Ahmet has a criminal record for selling drugs. He is also believed to have been receiving treatment for schizophrenia.
Bizarrely, he told police during questioning that he killed Elif because “I thought my wife had aborted my child”.
But Elif is not believed to have been pregnant.
He added: “We argued at home. I hit her. I was taking her to her father’s house. I lost myself. I don’t remember what happened.”
Elif’s body was taken for an autopsy in Pamukkale before being handed to her parents.
She was buried in her home village of Kocbeyli – in Cay District, Afyonkarahisar Province.
The couple had married in November last year with Elif’s parents’ express consent due to her young age.
They had met in the textile factory where they both worked.
Elif’s grieving father Adem Cimen told local media: “I want my daughter’s murderer to be punished in the most severe way.”
Police are investigating the case.
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 digital memorial for women killed by violence” and is updated daily, 356 femicides have taken place in Turkey so far this year.
