Gender-based crimes continue in Ankara and Tokat provinces

News of another woman having been murdered by a male perpetrator broke Thursday in Ankara, where a man admitted to stabbing his wife 12 times in front of their 4-year-old grandson before fleeing the scene. Mustafa and Ayşe K. had been married for 30 years.

Police arrested Mustafa K. in a nearby park while paramedics rushed Ayşe to a hospital where she subsequently died from her injuries.

In his statement to the police, Mustafa said he “lost control” when accusing his wife of cheating on him. Experts and activists have noted the excuses male perpetrators use in justifying gender-based violence, whether they be about unemployment, alleged infidelity or jealousy, but add there is no justification for abuse and violence. In Tokat, a judge has filed criminal complaints against the husband, father-in-law and father of a 12-year-old child bride who is now three-and-a-half months pregnant. E.Ö. was married off by her father, Bayram Ö., to 26-year-old Tuncay İ. A case has been opened against her husband, father and father-in-law on charges of sexual assault, restriction of liberty and the holding a religious ceremony without an official state ceremony. Her father and father-in-law made statements to the police and were subsequently released, but the search continues for Tuncay.