Suspicious deaths of women have been steadily increasing in Türkiye. In some months, the number of women who die under suspicious circumstances exceeds the number officially recorded as femicides. Many of these cases are initially classified as “suicides,” much like the death of Rojin Kabaiş. But new evidence that emerged following pressure from her family and women’s organizations reveals the possibility that Rojin was murdered.
Since the Stop Women’s Murders Platform (KCDP) began systematically collecting data in 2017, it has been shown that 1,494 women have died under suspicious circumstances. A recurring pattern across these cases is that most of the women were in the presence of a male partner or male family member at the time of death. In Türkiye, “falls from heights” are the most frequently recorded cause of suspicious female deaths.
According to KCDP data, the number of suspicious female deaths by year is as follows: 134 in 2017, 131 in 2018, 115 in 2019, 171 in 2020, 217 in 2021, 245 in 2022, and 248 in 2023. Between November 2024 and October 2025 alone, 218 women died under suspicious circumstances.
Cansel Talay, a lawyer from the Diyarbakır Bar Association, notes that a significant number of these cases were later confirmed to be murders. Talay also emphasizes that confidentiality orders frequently imposed on investigations into suspicious female deaths delay the emergence of the truth.
Between November 2024 and October 2025 alone, 218 women died under suspicious circumstances.
From “suicide” to murder—some precedents
Numerous past cases demonstrate how suspicious deaths initially labeled as suicides were later revealed to involve male violence. Aysun Yildirim fell from the third floor of her workplace in Istanbul on February 28, 2018. Her case was closed as a suicide, but following her family’s legal efforts, DNA evidence belonging to a man was found under her fingernails, leading to the case being reopened.
On May 29, 2018, Şule Çet met her employer Çagatay Aksu and his friend Berk Akand and died after falling from the 20th floor of the plaza she was staying at. Despite attempts to classify her death as a suicide, public pressure and forensic reports established that she had been thrown from the building following sexual assault.
A few years earlier, in June 2015, Ayşe Atasayar’s death was initially described as a suicide. Autopsy and reports by the Council of Forensic Medicine in Türkiye (ATK) later confirmed that she had been killed as a result of male violence.
And on January 4, 2020, Gulistan Doku disappeared after leaving her residence in student housing in Tunceli. CCTV footage showed her arguing with and being physically assaulted by her ex-boyfriend Zaynal Abakarov the day before she went missing. The only suspect in this case is Abakarov’s father, an award-winning police officer in the Homicide Bureau at the Tunceli Police Department, who was one of the last people to see Gulistan alive. Attempts were made to frame the case as a suicide, but no physical evidence supported this claim: nothing was found in the water where Gulistan had allegedly drowned herself. During this process, all eyes were glued to Abakarov and his father. But even now, five years later, Gulistan’s fate remains unknown.
Although her death was officially recorded as a suicide, neither her family nor the public accepted this explanation.
The suspicious death of Rojin Kabaiş
Rojin Kabaiş, 21 years old, is one of the hundreds of women who have died under suspicious circumstances in Türkiye. She dreamed of becoming a teacher and had only been a university student for two days when she disappeared. On September 27, 2024, she left the state-run dormitory where she was staying in Van and did not return that night. Her body was found 18 days later, on October 15, on the shore of Lake Van.
Although her death was officially recorded as a suicide, neither her family nor the public accepted this explanation. The Turkish public, especially women’s organizations, began to draw attention to this and demanded to know what had really happened to Rojin. Her parents roamed the streets, wearing her photo pinned to their lapels, demanding justice.
This pressure has led to the emergence of evidence strengthening the likelihood that Rojin was murdered following a potential sexual assault: an ATK report confirmed the presence of DNA belonging to two different men on her body, specifically in the sternal (chest) region and the intra-vaginal area. The report concluded that this DNA was not contaminated, despite initial claims that it was, and indeed belonged to the suspects.
But despite this, the investigation has proceeded slowly, raising concerns that the suspects may have fled the country.
Early negligence and failures make it difficult to uncover the truth
Under Turkish state-led university dormitory regulations, families must be notified if female students do not return at night. While women have reacted to this regulation as being “restrictive,” it was not applied in this instance—Rojin’s family was not informed when she failed to return to the dormitory on September 27. This is the first instance of negligence in her death: her family was only notified the following day, upon which they immediately traveled from Diyarbakır to Van to file a missing-person report.
Lawyers later documented multiple procedural failures: search efforts were delayed, beginning only on September 28, and were inadequately conducted; there was a risk of evidence tampering; Rojin’s dormitory room was hastily cleared while she was still missing; and her roommate left the dormitory very suddenly.
Suicide declared before an autopsy
When Rojin’s body was found on the shore of Lake Van on the 18th day after her disappearance, the Governor of Van told her father, Nizamettin Kabaiş—before any forensic examination—that his daughter had died by suicide.
A confidentiality order was immediately imposed on the case file.
During the autopsy, bruises were found on Rojin’s neck and back, indicating possible physical violence. But the preliminary autopsy report was withheld from the Van Bar Association due to the confidentiality order and was released only after legal objections.
The ATK report, which the lawyers received one month later, stated that Rojin’s cause of death was drowning. “Whether the drowning was a suicide or the result of external intervention cannot be determined, and it is not clear whether the drowning occurred in Lake Van or if Rojin’s body was dumped there afterward,” the lawyers stated.
The report also emphasized that there was no evidence of rape—the forensic procedure had found that the DNA on Rojin’s body was contaminated, meaning it could belong to the people who carried her body, but, as mentioned above, this was later revealed not to be true: the DNA belonged to the two men identified in the previous report.
“My search for justice alone is not enough. Go to Van and ask what happened to our child. I am fighting alone. Why are your eyes closed, your ears blocked? My heart is burning!”
A family’s demand for justice
Rojin’s father publicly challenged the silence surrounding his daughter’s death, declaring in front of the Diyarbakır Courthouse, “My search for justice alone is not enough. Go to Van and ask what happened to our child. I am fighting alone. People of conscience are helping, but there are few. Why are your eyes closed, your ears blocked? My heart is burning!”
Rojin’s mother, Aygul Kabaiş, has also insisted, since day one, that her daughter was murdered. She points to institutional failures. “The news of my daughter’s disappearance was relayed to us too late. If it had been communicated in time, the search would have started earlier, and maybe my daughter would still be alive.” Outraged at the slowness of the procedure more than a year after Rojin’s death, her mother demands to know the truth. “I entrusted my daughter to the state,” she laments. “They gave me her body.”
Elif Kabaiş, Rojin’s sister, has attended every demonstration, carrying her sister’s photo. “We were an ordinary family,” she says, “and in one moment, our lives were destroyed.” Elif never believed her sister died by suicide—“We want to find out who did this to Rojin. We haven’t been able to sleep for a year.”
What happened to Rojin? A national question
Public reaction to Rojin’s death spread rapidly across Türkiye. University students in Van organized campus vigils demanding justice. Women’s organizations held regular demonstrations. Posters bearing Rojin’s image appeared across Diyarbakır and Van, distributed by her family. Every chance they were given, they protested the confidentiality order and demanded truth and justice.
Artists canceled concerts in her name. Taxi drivers placed her photo on their vehicles. Motorcycle couriers carried her image through city streets. Amedspor fans unfurled giant banners with her photo at every match, and travelers attached her image to their suitcases. Municipalities named women’s centers after Rojin to keep her memory alive.
Unanswered questions remain
Attorney Cansel Talay, one of the lawyers representing the family, stresses that critical questions remain unresolved. “The identity of the individuals whose DNA was found on Rojin’s body, the circumstances and timing of contact, particularly concerning the vaginal DNA—this requires an in-depth investigation. Not enough technical analysis has been provided. Where did Rojin go after leaving the dormitory? Who did she meet? Why was her absence from the dormitory not noticed in time?”
“There are blind spots and gaps in the CCTV footage that make it difficult to understand the sequence of events,” he continues. “And it is still unclear whether the location where the body was found aligns with the official narrative of the incident. The lateness and incomplete nature of the ATK report have delayed getting these answers,” he adds, drawing attention to the negligence plaguing this case.
Talay further argues that while confidentiality orders may initially serve investigative purposes, at this stage, they are obstructing justice rather than advancing it.
What happened to Rojin?
The phone will be sent to Spain
In a final effort to obtain decisive evidence, Turkish authorities have formally requested assistance from Spain to decrypt and conduct forensic analysis on Rojin Kabaiş’s mobile phone. The phone is expected to yield critical digital data related to the night of her disappearance.
For more than a year, Rojin Kabaiş’s family and lawyers, fellow students, and women’s organizations have continued to demand the truth. Their question remains unanswered, but it continues to echo across Türkiye:
What happened to Rojin?
