18-year-old Turkish girl ‘was raped after murder’: Report

MUĞLA

The latest victim of femicide in Turkey was raped after she was killed, Turkish media reported June 23, quoting an autopsy report.

Cansu Kaya, 18, was found dead in a canal in the western province of Muğla last week.

According to daily Akşam, the autopsy report said that sperm and nail traces found in and on Kaya’s body, belonged to both arrested suspects, identified as N.D. and M.P.Ç.

The time difference between the time when Kaya’s neck was bruised and the marks of rape indicated that the murderers sexually assaulted the victim after she was dead, forensics experts reportedly noted.

Kaya was found dead on June 17 in the Dalyan canal by her sister, Burcu Kaya, who had been searching for her since June 14. She had been staying in a small hotel in the touristic town of Dalyan and working as a waitress in a restaurant.

On June 22, about 500 people protested in the Ortaca district of Muğla, marching with placards showing pictures of slain women in Turkey and chanted slogans in the streets.

Nilgün Şahin, the Ortaca municipality city council secretary-general, made a statement on behalf of the group, pointing to the increasing number of femicides in the country.

“The women who were brutally murdered this year are among us right now. The horrific male violence that sticks words in our throats is still continuing to make our lives miserable without boundaries,” Şahin said.

“The male-dominant mentality, which bereaves women of any age, color or language, has murdered a total of 144 sisters since the beginning of 2015. We are aware that those who murdered Cansu want to murder us too,” she added.

Public debate around violence against women flared up in Turkey earlier this year, after the burned body of 20-year-old university student Özgecan Aslan was found in a river bed in the southern province of Mersin on Feb. 11. The driver of the minibus she took to return home confessed to the murder. He was arrested on Feb. 16 with two of his accomplices.