Turkey’s top court overturns aggravated life sentence in brutal femicide case

Pınar Gültekin

Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals has overturned the aggravated life sentence of a man who brutally murdered a young woman in 2020, sparking outrage among women’s rights advocates.

The burned body of Pınar Gültekin, a 27-year-old university student, was found in a barrel buried on a farm owned by Cemal Metin Avcı, who later confessed that he had burned the body in an attempt to get rid of it.

The two had allegedly been in a relationship but had ended the affair since Avcı was married at the time. On the day Gültekin went missing, they had gone to Avcı’s farm to discuss the situation; however, Avcı killed her after a heated argument.

Avcı was sentenced to aggravated life for “committing premediated murder with malicious intent.” His brother Mertcan Avcı was sentenced to four years in prison for destroying, concealing or altering evidence.

The sentence was overturned on the grounds that the murder had not been premediated with malicious intent and that Avcı had been “provoked.”

The Gültekin family lawyer, Rezan Epözdemir, said the decision had left a black mark on Turkey’s judiciary. “The ruling is unlawful and inhumane,” he said. “We will of course appeal the decision.”

This is not the first time the Turkish judiciary has handed down lenient sentences for perpetrators of femicide on the grounds of provocation.

Article 29 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) is often used to reduce sentences for men accused of such crimes on the grounds that the victim provoked the murderer with her actions.

Turkish courts are often accused of interpreting laws leniently in cases of gender-based violence. They also reduce sentences for men based on “good conduct” in the courtroom, which is at the discretion of the judge.

Women’s rights activists said the law should be amended because it does not clarify what exactly can be considered a provocation. In a 2022 interview, lawyer Selin Nakıpoğlu from the Women’s Platform for Equality (ESIK) said by issuing reduced sentences based on provocation, the courts were saying victims deserved to be killed or hurt.

“Even in cases where the perpetrator stalked the victim for a long period of time and the murder was premeditated, courts still find a reason to hand down reduced sentences,” Nakıpoğlu said

 In 2022 the Supreme Court of Appeals found the reduction of a sentence given to a man who was convicted of the murder of a woman in Ankara in 2014 to be “reasonable” for a crime of passion because the victim rejected the man’s proposal of marriage.

The smallest things such as verbal insults or wanting to separate can be considered provocation by the court. In one case a man was awarded a reduced sentence because he had high blood pressure that “caused him to lose control” during an argument with his wife.

Epözdemir said Article 29 was a huge paradox in the Turkish judiciary and was most often resorted to in cases of gender-based violence.

“If the court rules that Avcı was seriously provoked, he will receive a 12-year sentence. If it determines that he was minimally provoked, the sentence will be 18 years. In the first scenario, Avcı could be eligible for parole in just two years, while in the second, he would be eligible in 2031. Either way, he will eventually be back on the street, posing the risk of committing another heinous crime,” Epözdemir said.

Gültekin’s family said it was outrageous to think that their daughter’s murder had not been committed without “malicious intent.”

“He first tried to strangle her, then squeezed her inside a barrel and tried to burn her while she was still alive. Then he poured cement over her while she was still inside the barrel and threw her in the river. The fact that she was burned alive already indicates the intention behind the act,” Epözdemir said.

The Ankara Women’s Platform protested the ruling in front of the Ministry of Justice.

“The courts are still protecting men with the ‘armor of provocation’,” said Leyla Mavili from the platform.

The We Will Stop Femicide Platform echoed this sentiment on their X account. “Can the court answer this question: What kind of provocation justifies burning a woman alive?”

Women’s rights platforms said they would continue demanding justice for Gültekin.

Femicides and violence against women are serious problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten every day. Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the AKP government, which protects violent and abusive men by granting them impunity.

Despite opposition from the international community and women’s rights groups, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a decree in March 2021 that pulled the country out of an international treaty that requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.

The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is an international accord designed to protect women’s rights and prevent domestic violence in societies and was opened to the signature of member countries of the Council of Europe in 2011.

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