Body of missing student found as Turkey grapples with femicides

The body of a 21-year-old female student who went missing nearly three weeks ago has been found in eastern Turkey, the government said on Tuesday, as the country grapples with a wave of femicides.

Hundreds of women have taken to the streets in major cities across Turkey over the past 10 days to denounce the string of killings.

The protests began following a 4 October attack in Istanbul in which two 19-year-olds were killed within half an hour of each other by a young man of the same age who then killed himself. One of the women was decapitated.

The body of Rojin K. was found on the banks of Lake Van near Molla Kasim village some 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Turkey's eastern border with Iran, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on X.

Although Yerlinkaya did not give the cause of death nor confirm whether she had been murdered, it is rare for such a high-ranking official to comment publically on a missing person case.

The young woman was studying at university in the nearby city of Van where she was last seen leaving her student accommodation on 27 September.

Turkey has struggled to contain a wave of femicides, with the country shocked by the murder of an eight-year-old girl in August and a 26-year-old policewoman last month.

Many of those protesting at the weekend chanted slogans against the ruling AKP and its leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who initially blamed alcohol and social media for the violence.

But last week, he promised to toughen the justice system and crack down harder on crime.

Part of the anger is about Turkey withdrawing from the so-called Istanbul Convention, which was set up by the Council of Europe and required signatory countries to pass laws aimed at preventing and prosecuting violence against women.

Women's organisations want Turkey to return to the convention.

Turkey withdrew from it in 2021 with Erdogan's government claiming it threatened the traditional family structure.

In the three months to September 30, 117 women were "murdered" and another 110 died in "suspicious circumstances", according to a statement released on Friday by women's rights groups who based their figures on press reports.