MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – The number of violence against women, femicide, harassment, rape, and suspicious death of women cases has recently increased in Turkey. The suspicious deaths of women have been recorded as “suicide”. In the last 20 years, thousands of women were killed in the country. In June 2021, at least 26 women were killed by men and the deaths of at least 20 women were reported as “suspicious”, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.

Women are killed disguised as “suicide”

Although women, who are subjected to verbal and physical attacks, systematic violence, threats, and harassment, file a criminal complaint against the abusive men or get a restraining order against them, women become the victims of femicide and they are killed disguised as “suicide”. One of these women is 40-year-old Ayşe Tayurak… On June 8, her dead body was found in her house located in the Bahçelievler neighborhood of Diyarbakır’s Silvan district. Her death was reported as “suspicious”. According to the received reports, she had been subjected to systematic violence by her ex-husband Adem Tayurak and had got a restraining order against him twice. It is claimed that she committed suicide but her daughter doesn’t believe her mother to have committed suicide.

“It wasn’t suicide but murder”

We spoke to Ayşe Tayurak’s daughter Elif Tayurak (20) about the death of her mother. “She was subjected to violence for 25 years. But she never gave up. She was my friend, my mother, and my everything. We don’t believe that she committed suicide and that will be revealed in the autopsy report. (After the death of her mother) my father emptied the house and threw away my mother's belongings. He can escape. My mother didn't kill herself; no one can make us believe that,” Elif Tayurak told us.

Elif Tayurak saw her mother’s dead body and there were bruises on her neck and face, “There were also bruises on her nose and face. She was subjected to violence before she died. We demand the truth to be revealed. My mother couldn’t kill herself. We call on all women to be in solidarity with us. We will follow this case.”

Ayşe’s neighbor: She made preparations for my child’s birthday

Ayşe Tayurak’s neighbor named T.P. visited Ayşe on the day she died. “Her hair was messy. The fermented yogurt was on the table. If she wanted to kill herself, then why had she made yogurt? She was subjected to violence for years but never thought to kill herself. On that night, she called her sister and told her she would bake a cake for her child’s birthday. Her ex-husband inflicted violence against her for years, threatened their children. Before the incident, he always walked around the house. He came every day despite the restraining order against him.”

The suspect is taking out all things in the house!

The children of Ayşe Tayurak have lived in the Hazro district of Diyarbakır since they buried their mother there.  The children have learned that their father is taking out all things in his house in Silvan. No one knows where Adem Tayurak will go.