A Turkish court has reduced the prison sentence of a police officer with the presidential protection department who seriously injured his wife’s face after she filed for divorce, the BirGün daily reported.
The Ankara 33rd High Criminal Court initially sentenced Yasin Çakmak to seven-and-a-half years in prison for intentionally injuring his wife, Fatma Çakmak, but reduced the sentence to four years, two months after applying reductions for unjust provocation and good conduct, also ordering his release pending appeal.
The case stemmed from a January 9 attack at the couple’s home in Ankara, where Çakmak cut his wife’s face with nail clippers while their divorce proceedings were ongoing. Fatma Çakmak received around 60 stitches for facial wounds and suffered injuries to other parts of her body.
Fatma Çakmak, a mother of three, said she had been subjected to physical and psychological violence during their marriage and had filed for divorce in April 2025. She said her husband intended to kill her in the January attack.
Yasin Çakmak was initially detained following Fatma Çakmak’s complaint but was released after questioning. He was detained again amid public outrage and arrested on January 17.
Prosecutors sought a prison sentence of up to 15-and-a-half years for Çakmak on charges of intentional injury, with the offense aggravated because the victim was a woman, and making threats.
The Ankara 64th Criminal Court of First Instance, which initially heard the case, later referred it to a high criminal court after finding that the attack could constitute attempted murder.
In his defense, Çakmak said he suspected his wife of having an affair and argued that he could have killed her if he had intended to do so.
The Ankara 33rd High Criminal Court concluded that Çakmak had acted with intent to injure rather than kill, citing the fact that he did not use a handgun found in the home and that the attack ended after neighbors intervened.
Çakmak was acquitted of threatening his wife.
The court also sentenced Fatma Çakmak to two-and-a-half years in prison for injuring her husband during the incident. She said she had picked up a knife to defend herself during the attack but that her husband took it from her and used it to injure her.
Women’s rights groups in Turkey have long criticized the use of sentence reductions for unjust provocation and good conduct in cases of violence against women, arguing that lenient sentences can reinforce impunity and fail to deter perpetrators.
