Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) on Friday released updated findings in the death of university student Rojin Kabaiş, which have reignited public outrage over alleged negligence and irregularities in the investigation, according to Turkish media.
Kabaiş, 21, went missing after leaving her dormitory in Van on September 27, 2024. Her body was found 18 days later on the shore of Lake Van, nearly 18 kilometers from where she disappeared. The autopsy report listed her cause of death as asphyxiation and noted the presence of two unidentified male DNA traces on her body, along with a woman’s blood on her undershirt.
According to her father, the authorities said it was a suicide and intended to shut the investigation down immediately. However, her family is adamant that their daughter didn’t die by suicide and demand a thorough investigation.
In its updated report, the ATK said DNA from two distinct males were found on Kabaiş’s chest and inner vaginal area. The finding has strengthened suspicions that she may have been killed following a sexual assault rather than dying by suicide.
The update comes 10 months after the initial report following repeated requests from Kabaiş’s family and lawyer. The Van and Diyarbakır bar associations had filed a criminal complaint against the ATK on September 25, accusing it of negligence for failing to disclose in its initial report the anatomical locations from which these DNA samples were taken.
The ATK maintained that the DNA could have been transferred postmortem or through environmental contact, concluding that there was no medical evidence of sexual assault.
Lawyer Helin Tapancı of the Diyarbakır Bar said procedural errors and negligence by the ATK have stalled the case, adding that possibility of sexual assault cannot be ruled out.
Following the latest developments, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) lawmaker Sümeyye Boz submitted a parliamentary question to the justice minister, asking why the DNA sample locations were omitted from the initial report and only added after a 10-month delay. In a separate motion to the speaker of parliament, she called for the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry commission to ensure judicial mechanisms that protect women’s right to life and strengthen the independence of the ATK.
Femicides and violence against women are chronic problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten almost every day. A total of 145 women were murdered in Turkey in the first six months of 2025, while an additional 215 died under suspicious circumstances.
Women’s rights organizations have for years been trying to raise awareness about the rise in violence against women that has taken place in the last two decades. Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by affording them impunity.
