Four masked men assaulted the uncle of Rojin Kabaiş, a Kurdish university student whose suspicious death in 2024 remains under investigation, and threatened to attack her father next unless the family stopped pursuing the case, Turkish media reported.
Ahmet Kabaiş was attacked on November 8 in İstanbul’s Büyükçekmece district. His brother, Nizamettin Kabaiş, is Rojin’s father. Ahmet Kabaiş called police after the assault and was taken by ambulance to a hospital. After being discharged, he obtained a medical report documenting his injuries and filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors in Büyükçekmece.
The family’s lawyer, Abdurrahman Karabulut, said the family had renewed its request for police protection after earlier requests went unanswered.
Rojin Kabaiş, 21, disappeared after leaving her dormitory at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University on September 27, 2024. Her body was found 18 days later on the shore of Lake Van. Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) concluded that she drowned but could not determine whether her death was a suicide, an accident or the result of someone else’s involvement.
An updated forensic report released in October 2025 revealed that DNA traces from two unidentified men, previously detected on her body, came from her chest and inside her vagina. The ATK said the DNA traces could have resulted from environmental contact or contamination after death and that it had found no medical evidence of sexual assault. The family has challenged the handling of the investigation and continues to demand answers about her death.
The Justice for Rojin Commission held a demonstration in İstanbul’s Bakırköy district on November 9, calling for a thorough investigation into the assault and police protection for the family.
Commission member Şeymanur Çoban said the family had received repeated threats and reported hearing gunshots outside their home. She criticized authorities for failing to protect the family and called for the attackers to be identified and prosecuted.
The family had faced threats before the assault. In August police detained 10 suspects accused of threatening the Kabaiş family and two other families who had lost their children. Two of the detainees were jailed pending trial.
Days later, Nizamettin Kabaiş said he received further death threats, including a photograph of a gun and a warning to withdraw his complaint or face death. He then filed another complaint with the police.
In a February 4 letter to the Turkish government, United Nations special rapporteurs called for the family to be protected and for a thorough investigation into Rojin’s death, citing threatening messages that included photographs of ammunition and references to the family’s Kurdish background.
