Two more women murdered in Turkey

The body of a 67-year-old woman who had been missing for nine days was found in the basement of her home in Küçükçekmece, İstanbul.

Police found the body of Nuray Özdeniz in the coal cellar of her home. She had been stabbed 26 times all over her body.

A year after Özdeniz's husband died, the elderly woman disappeared. Her four children filed a missing person's report nine days ago. When police investigations proved unsuccessful, Özdeniz's children appealed for help on a morning TV program. Following a lead from a viewer, her family found the body in the basement of her home.

Several of Özdeniz's neighbors were taken to the police station to give statements.

Two of Özdeniz's neighbors, Sevda and Fatih Y., were arrested on Tuesday. The suspects allegedly told police they killed the elderly woman because they could not repay money they owed her.

In İstanbul, a man was arrested on Tuesday for reportedly killing his neighbor after she said she did not love him.

The body of Nilüfer Aygüler, 25, was found on Monday in İstanbul's Sultangazi district.

After Aygüler divorced her husband one-and-a-half years ago, she moved in with her family. One morning, after everyone had gone to work, she was at home alone. Her sister and mother, both of whom worked at a confectionery, grew worried when Aygüler did not answer their calls. Her brother, Ercan Aygüler, returned home around noon to find his sister's lifeless body.

The police have opened an investigation into the murder of Aygüler, whose neck had been slit and who had been stabbed many times all over her body.

As Ercan Aygüler opened the locked door using his house key, police concluded there had been no forced entry. According to family members, there were no issues between Aygüler and her ex-husband.

On Tuesday, police arrested the family's neighbor, Gökhan U., who told police he had started to like Aygüler after she divorced her husband. According to police reports, Gökhan U. said he waited until no one was home and then rang Aygüler's door bell. After she let him in, he told her he loved her.

When Aygüler rejected him, Gökhan U. said he killed her because he “did not want another man to have her.” Turkish media outlets reported Aygüler's death as a murder committed out of “unrequited love.”

Only one week has passed since another woman was murdered out of “unrequited love” in İstanbul.

More than 40 percent of women in Turkey have suffered from physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives. Most men who committed acts of gender-based violence in 2011 reported doing so out of jealousy and/or rage, according to official national statistics.

Sociologists and activists have called for a redefinition of love and jealousy as they are currently understood in Turkish culture.