ANKARA, Turkey – Turkish police on Wednesday arrested the boyfriend of a19-year-old Kurdish singing show contestant, who was in critical condition after being shot in the head in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast.
Mutlu Kaya was shot around 3 a.m. through the window of her bedroom early Monday. Her boyfriend, Veysi Ercan, has confessed to being in the Ergeni district of Diyarbakir where Kaya lived when the shooting happened. He has confessed being drunk at the time, but has denied committing the act.
The couple had reportedly quarreled over Kaya’s upcoming appearance on a television singing contest, which Ercan had allegedly opposed.
Turkish media quoted police as saying Kaya had filed a complaint four months ago against Ercan, saying she had been intimidated and threatened by him.
The girl had hoped to be on her way to stardom after being noticed by famous Turkish singer Sibel Can, who was arranging her television appearance.
“She has great artistic talent,” the Hurriyet Daily quoted Can as telling Kaya’s mother after a March 30 meeting in Diyarbakir with the hopeful singer.
“My beautiful girl Mutlu, how could they wound you? I am very sad,” wrote Can, who shared a picture of Kaya on Instagram.
Crimes against women in Turkey have been on the rise, Hurriyet reported. Last year, 294 women were killed in acts of violence, nearly half of them for wanting to make independent decisions, according to a report by the Stop Women Homicides Platform.
It said that that 91 women have so far been killed in gender violence since the start of the year.
