Male violence: Kemal D. detained for ‘killing’ Aylin Sözer

"We are not safe"

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A male suspect named Kemal D. has been detained in İstanbul for "killing" Aylin Sözer. While Sözer's golden necklaces have been found on the man, it is alleged that he is Aylin Sözer's ex-boyfriend. 

The state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) has reported that suspect Kemal D. first cut Aylin Sözer's throat, then burned her.

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As reported by Hürriyet newspaper, the feminicide was committed at around 12.30 p.m. in Maltepe district in İstanbul today (December 29). After her siblings could not reach their sister Aylin Sözer, an academic from a private university in İstanbul, they called the police.

When the police arrived in Sözer's house, they realized that there was someone inside. They knocked on the door but no one answered. Seeing that the police arrived, Kemal D. piled up objects in front of the door.

The locksmith opened the door. Seeing that a fire broke out in the house, the police called the fire brigade teams. When the police entered the house, they saw D. and Aylin Sözer, who was lying on the floor.

D. attacked the police who tried to detain him and wanted to throw a flammable liquid. One officer got wounded in his hand in the ensuing fight.

After the suspect was searched, Sözer's gold and a flammable liquid was found on him. While some police officers were affected by the smoke, the male suspect has been taken into custody by the police.

The fire brigade teams also arrived in the scene of the incident and started working to put out the fire. The other houses in the apartment have been evicted as the entire building was filled with smoke.

''We couldn't protect you'

Aylin Sözer was Dr. Lecturer at İstanbul Aydın University's Department of Preschool Education. Her field of specialization was mathematics.

After her passing was reported in the news, her students from the women's studies club of the university have shared a message on social media.

"Just as we could not protect other killed women, we could not protect you, either," the students have said and briefly added the following:

"In yesterday's class, she was not as cheerful as she always was. Our 'if only's are in our minds. Our teacher Aylin, who taught us classes everyday and called us, 'My dear children', is heinously massacred.

"This is not a letter, this is a declaration where we cry our rage out loud. So many Aylins are massacred in this country everyday. With which preventive mechanisms will you stop feminicides?

"When will you implement the İstanbul Convention?

"She was apparently taken hostage in our class yesterday. We submitted the homework of our teacher. We are now horrified.

"Aylin Sözer has been burned to death with a flammable substance in her own house by the man whom he allegedly broke up with."

Diğer öldürülen kadınlar gibi sizi de koruyamadık hocam.
Dün dersimizde çokta neşeli değildi her zaman ki gibi, keşkelerimiz çok dolanıyor beynimizde.
Her gün dersimize giren canım çocuklarım diye bize seslenen Aylin hocamız dehşet verici bir şekildi katledildi. pic.twitter.com/sC2q2EQ0p6

— İAÜ Kadın Araştırmaları kulübü (@iaukatt) December 29, 2020

Public outrage on social media

The femincide of Aylin Sözer has caused a public outrage, especially among women on social media:

Main opposition CHP MP Sera Kadıgil: "A woman has been burned to death in this country today! A woman has been burned to death in this country today! A woman has been burned to death in this country today!"

Journalist Burcu Karakaş: "Motherhood... Sacred family... Marriage is supposedly great... A country where everything has a value, but our lives have no value when we are killed in torture or massacred by being burned. But motherhood, but family! #AylinSözer"

CHP MP Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi: "Today, we mourn for academic Aylin Sözer, who has been burned to death by her ex-boyfriend. This murder is also a result of the cultural climate that you reproduce everyday over and over again and that fosters male violence. There is no longer any word that can define rage and sorrow!" (EMK/SD)