Story By: Feza Uzay, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
A Turkish man has been arrested for strangling his 17-year-old ex-fiancee – a sexual abuse survivor – to death at a hotel because she refused to get back together with him.
Housekeepers who entered the hotel room on Adnan Menderes Boulevard, in the district of Muratpasa, in the Turkish province of Antalya, found Nuray Demir, 17, naked and lifeless on the bed, at around 3.30pm on Saturday, 19th March.
Medics were called to the scene and could only pronounce her dead.
A medical examination found rashes on her neck and determined that she might have been strangled to death.
The victim’s aunt, Nur Cevik, who came to collect the body, said that her niece had got engaged to the suspect, Taner Bektas, last December. She said: “Taner was extremely jealous. My niece broke up with him after a while because of his attitude.”
She added: “On the day of the incident, Nuray had gone to the cinema with a friend. Her ex-fiance called her and said that he wanted to talk and patch things up. Nuray did not agree to meet.”
“But Taner came to the front of the cinema and threatened her, saying, ‘either you make up with me and put that engagement ring back on your finger, or I will kill you’. Then, he took her by the arm and forced her to a hotel to talk. Nuray’s friend witnessed this incident.”
The police began looking for Bektas, age not disclosed, who fled after the incident. He was found and arrested in the province of Yalova and was brought to Antalya on Sunday, 20th March.
In his first statement, he allegedly confessed to the murder, saying: “I broke up with my ex-wife because she cheated on me. Then I got engaged to Nuray. On the day of the incident, Nuray told me, ‘I haven’t married you yet. You can’t interfere with me until I marry you. I’ll do whatever I want with whoever I want.’ We argued because of it. I got jealous and strangled her.”
Bektas was transferred to the courthouse after being processed at the police station and he was remanded in custody pending the outcome of the investigation. It is currently unclear whether he has been formally charged.
The victim was reportedly previously sexually abused by her mother’s cousin, identified as Birol K., on 18th January 2020, and Birol K. was detained at his home after she filed a complaint.
Despite a medical examination determining that the victim had suffered sexual abuse, Birol K. was released under judicial supervision after a hearing at the Antalya 7th High Criminal Court.
It has been reported that the sexual abuse case has not been concluded yet.
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 have died due to violence against women in Turkey and which is updated every day, 83 femicides have taken place since the beginning of 2022.
