She Asked For Divorce, Shot Twelve Times Instead

In the first meeting of the trial, the court heard the accused petty officer master sergeant Hüseyin Güneş Özmen and the victim Ayşe Yılbaş’ father on behalf of her family. Güneş is accused of killing his wife Ayşe Yılbaş for wanting to divorce him.

Canan Arın, Hülya Gülbahar, Meriç Eyüboğlu, Funda Ekin, Oya Öznur and Yasemin Öz were at the trial as joint attorneys for the victim.

The lawyer of the victim was İbrahim Kaplan and the lawyer of the accused was Bahri Bayram Belen.

According to the information given by the lawyer Hülya Gülbahar, who is also the president of the Association to Support and Educate Women Candidates (KA-DER), the court will consider the request by Purple Roof Women's Shelter and Foundation  to join the trial on the side of the victim.

Moreover, Gülbahar added that the court decided to maintain the detention of the accused and demanded that his security is provided.

Again “I was not myself”

Gülbahar said that in his testimony the accused said, “I was not myself; victim’s family killed the victim. I heard that she was having an affair with a doctor. Thinking that this would not be good for the mental health of our child while the marriage lasted, I questioned her and her reply was that her private life was not my problem. I kept patient. Then I told her that I wanted to see my kid and when she said she would not let me see my child, I lost myself. I pointed the gun to my own head. It was empty. I do not remember the rest.”

Yılbaş and her mother had appealed to the public prosecutor many times

Gülbahar described the hearing:

“The woman wanted to continue her education and the suspect’s condition for her wish was that she would get pregnant. This was followed by continuing threats by the suspect, both at her wife and her family. Both the victim and her mother appealed many times to the authorities for a solution. The accused was constantly telling the victim that he was going to kill her on one Friday during the morning pray. And he eventually killed her on Friday at noon time.”

This morning Purple Roof Women's Shelter and Foundation, a woman’s organization for battered women, and some other women asked the court to join the trial on the side of the victim:

“…As women’s organizations, we repeat, one more time, that we take a side in crimes and murders against women in order to fulfill our desire for justice.”

Ayşe Yılbaş was an intern in the neurobiology section of Cerrahpaşa Medical School. Yılbaş was killed on February 22 by being shot 12 times by her husband Petty Office Master Sergeant Hüseyin Güneş Özmen, whom she was trying to divorce. (NZ/TB)

43 women’s organizations showed their support by asking the court to join the trial on the side of the victim.