ISTANBUL - The 6th hearing of the perpetrator Cemal Albayrak, who tried to kill Buse Güler, will be held tomorrow. Calling for solidarity for Buse, her mother Arzu Güler said, ‘’We should struggle not for one person, but for millions of killed women’’.

 

On March 21, 2020, in Istanbul’s Sultangazi Neighbourhood, Cemal Albayrak seriously injured 22-year-old Buse Güler by attempting to kill her with a firearm. Buse, who struggled for life in the intensive care unit for 18 days, was discharged from the hospital after recovering. The perpetrator, Cemal Albayrak, was arrested by the court he was brought to after he was taken into custody. In the indictment prepared by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, a prison sentence of up to 20 years is requesting about the perpetrator on the charge of ‘’attempt to kill by designed deliberately’’. The 6th hearing of the case in which perpetrator Cemal Albayrak is on trial will be held tomorrow at the Istanbul 1st High Criminal Court in Çağlayan.

 

Speaking to our agency before the hearing, Buse’s mother, Arzu Güler, called for solidarity for her daughter.

 

‘He was constantly slandering at the hearings’

 

Arzu said that unlike the attitude of the court committees at the hearings regarding violence against women, they did not face such a situation this time, noting the attitude of the perpetrator and his lawyer at the hearings, and stated that he defended himself with words aimed at exculpating.

 

‘His family still hides his crime’

 

Stating that they are in a patriarchal society where men are always at the forefront, Arzu said, “If we make serious distinctions between male and female, this male can go out. Buse was needed to confront with Cemal and his family in order to shout out what was inside of her. But the perpetrator’s family blamed Buse. He was killing my child. What kind of people are you! The opposite party says to us, ‘We will cover your expenses, you withdraw the charges’. Are you kidding me? How can I betray my child even though you have laid the worlds before me? These people cannot empathize. His family is still hiding the crime he committed’’.

 

‘Is our honour left to men!’

 

Emphasizing that a person does not have the right to end another person’s life, Arzu said, ‘If it doesn’t, you get divorced, you break up. Is our honour left to men! If a person can shoot from behind, that is the real dishonor. It’s a very difficult time. When I show my daughter’s wounds, she/he cannot even look at it for three seconds, but I dressed my daughter’s wounds for months. A 24-year-old young female cannot style her own hair, because she has a hard time raising her hands because of her back bone’’.

 

The perpetrator has many criminal records

 

Arzu shared that the perpetrator Cemal Albayrak was not only committed this crime and that he has also a criminal record for other crimes. Arzu added that the perpetrator had kidnapped Buse before he attempted to kill her. Arzu said, ‘’This person has already been involved in many crimes before. My daughter started to move away after learning these. He had kidnapped my daughter before these incidents happened. So we went to the police station to make an application for missing. And we learned that he was blackmailing other females and sharing them on social media. He locked my daughter in the room for three hours. After my daughter was found, the two families talked together and we forgave because we didn’t know what he had done to my daughter before. After my daughter was shot, we learned that he said ‘I kill myself’ and committed violence against my daughter’’.

 

‘Buse is a voice of the killed women’

 

“Women are killed every day, these women are human too. Buse is not just my daughter. Buse is a voice of millions of women who lost their lives due to violence against women. If the killed women were alive today, they too would defend themselves. We must stand behind the injured women. We should struggle not for one person, but for the millions of women who were killed,’’ Arzu said.