Nisa Sude Demirel
 

Tie, suit, 'cheating', 'refusal to do housework', 'women's clothes'... Many of these reasons are used as excuses in cases of femicide, violence and abuse. With 394 femicides and 259 suspicious deaths, 2024 was the year with the highest number of femicides in recent years. One of the factors that increases violence, abuse and femicides to such an extent is impunity. Penalties are mitigated with tools such as unjust provocation and 'good behaviour'; contrary to the law, perpetrators of murder are not sentenced to 'aggravated life imprisonment'. While 2024 has been a year of impunity for women, the Supreme Court's decision in the Pınar Gültekin case exposed this impunity once again. As women march for 'an end to impunity' on 8 March, we have compiled the most prominent examples of impunity in 2024.

Society calls femicide trials 'unfair'

According to a survey conducted by Istanbul Economy Research in 2022, 54 per cent of respondents believe that the courts favour men in femicide cases. Four out of five respondents believe that the sentences handed down in femicide cases are not fair.

According to a report prepared by the Lawyers' Association for Freedom in December 2024, legal loopholes in femicide cases also prevent the perpetrator from being punished fairly. For example, although the offence of premeditated murder includes phrases such as 'intentionally, with monstrous feeling', these are generally not taken into account in femicide cases. One of the main reasons for this is the use of the term 'wrongful act' in the justifications. While this term is left ambiguous in the law, in practice situations such as 'suspicion of infidelity' and 'quarrel' can become excuses for leniency. Again, the same reasons can lead to practices such as 'good behaviour' discounts and unjustified provocation that reduce the sentence.

Search for concrete evidence leads to 'release' in child abuse case

İsmail Karakoç, who sexually abused and killed a mentally disabled child in Manisa for two years, has been released on appeal. The aggravated life sentence of Hasan Fakıoğlu, who shot and killed Ayşenur Çolakoğlu with a pistol in Eskişehir, was commuted to life imprisonment with a discount for good behaviour. District Mufti Halil Bilik, who was arrested for sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in the Akçakale district of Urfa, was released. Mehmet T., who shared videos of the sexual abuse of his 10-year-old sister on social media in Antep, was sentenced to 12 years and 6 months in prison with a good behaviour discount. In Ankara, Mustafa E., who was tried without arrest for sexually abusing M.Ş. between the ages of 6 and 11, was given a discount for good behaviour.

‘Remorse’ justifies impunity

Ahmet Yavuz Köþebent, who killed his mother Serpil Köþebent in Erzurum, was given a discount for good behaviour and his aggravated life sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. B.A., who killed his mother Mine Akgül with a firearm, was given a reduction for good behaviour. Mohammad Nizar Arnabeh, who confessed to killing Anastasiia Emelianova, was acquitted for lack of concrete evidence. Ertan Arıç, who stabbed and wounded his wife Sabriye Arıç in 32 places in Bursa, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, reduced to 15 years because he called an ambulance after the incident, and police officer Mürsel Ataklı, who killed his wife in Çorum and was sentenced to life imprisonment, was sentenced to 24 years.

In some cases, not even an arrest

Abdullah Sarı, who killed his cancer-stricken wife Naile Sarı with a gun in Adana, was given a good behaviour discount and his aggravated life sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Erol G., Nezih Çinkitaş, who murdered his 12-year-old daughter Hande Çinkitaş in 2001, had his aggravated life sentence commuted to life imprisonment for 'good behaviour' and was not arrested.Mükerrem Başarmak, who murdered Ayşe Çetin, whom he had divorced, by beating her to death in Ordu, was given a 'good behaviour' discount and his aggravated life sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.17 Musa Ş, the brother-in-law who harassed 17-year-old S.Y. for three years, was released with electronic monitoring and a travel ban. Yılmaz Akman, who beat 19-year-old S.N.A. on the street in Manisa, was released under judicial supervision. The perpetrator was found to have 18 criminal records. In Elazığ, G.C., a school principal arrested for "sexual abuse" was released because of the time he had spent in custody.

The Dina case also ended in impunity

The arrested defendant Dursun Acar, who was on trial in the case of 17-year-old Dina, who was murdered in Karabük, was acquitted of 'premeditated murder in a qualified manner' and 'sexual abuse'. In the case of 7-year-old Narin Güran, whose lifeless body was found in Diyarbakır, Yüksel Güran, Salim Güran and her brother Enes Güran were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, but no point of the murder was clarified. Nevzat Bahtiyar, who confessed to burying Narin's body, was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison, and S.G., who was on trial for sexual harassment of his employee in Muğla Menteşe, was sentenced to a fine of 45 thousand TL with a 'good behaviour' discount. Alptekin Yavaş, who was on trial for "intentional homicide of his wife" in connection with the death of Tuğba Yavaş, who fell from the balcony of their 5th floor apartment in Çanakkale, was released. Serkan T., who stole an 84-year-old paralysed woman's medication and sexually assaulted her, was released under judicial supervision. The Court of Cassation overturned the aggravated life sentence of Cemal Metin Avcı, who murdered university student Pınar Gültekin by burning her to death, on the grounds of 'unjustified provocation'. Requests for the arrest of Oğuzhan Yücesoy, a governor's bodyguard who sexually abused 15-year-old I.Ç. in Şırnak, were rejected.