A MAN shot dead his daughter, wife and mother before taking his own life while on a temporary release from jail in Turkey.
Recep Cengiz, 35, was on an 11-day period of leave from prison in Ankara when he massacred those closest to him.
Armed with a gun, he travelled to the Kuşcağız neighbourhood where his mother Azize Cengiz, 57, and his eight-year-old daughter Azra lived.
A quarrel broke out between him and his mother, and the inmate opened fire on both his own mother and daughter, killing them on the spot.
Cengiz then hauled their lifeless bodies in the trunk of his car, attempting to conceal the evidence.
He then drove to the house of his estranged wife, Beyzanur Uçan Cengiz, 28, who lived in the same neighbourhood of the Turkish capital.
Fearing that she will not open the door, he disguised as a courier to hide his identity.
As soon as Beyzanur opened the front door, he unleashed his gun on her right there, in the doorway.
The prisoner then turned the weapon on himself.
His wife, Beyzanur, is understood to have been in the process of filing for divorce.
Nizamettin Karagöz, the manager of the building where the second attack took place, claimed that Cengiz and Beyzanur married only six or seven months ago.
“The man had previously experienced difficulties,” he told local media.
“He had a restraining order against his wife. His wife mentioned that he had been released from prison.
“They got married six or seven months ago. They couldn’t get along. The woman filed for divorce. The man probably didn’t accept this.”
The attack happened on Monday. Following multiple reports of gunshots, police and medical teams were dispatched to both addresses.
Nothing could be done to save the three victims or Cengiz.
Following reports of the tragedy, small protests were organised across the capital to call for justice.
Işıl Kurt, an activist from a women’s rights group in Ankara, told the crowd: “We always say it: women are always killed by those closest to them.
“This time too, a perpetrator – a man – truly killed all the women closest to him in a single night.
“As a result of the government’s family-centered, women-unfocused policies, a man killed all the female members of his family.”
The Foundation for Women’s Solidarity, an independent women’s rights group, gathered outside the ministry of justice to condemn politicians for their silence.
“As long as the government remains silent, we keep dying,” activists warned.
“The government, which stayed silent against the murders committed by those released on leave from prisons last year, is complicit in the murders of Azize Cengiz, Azra Cengiz, and Beyzanur Uçan Cengiz committed yesterday.”
Femicide is not new to Turkey, but human rights groups have warned that the problem has only worsened amid weak legal and social protection mechanisms.
Data shared by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP) showed that at least 294 women were murdered in 2025.
Other sources reported the figure to be as high as 420. Last year also saw a record rise in suspicious deaths involving women.
Since Turkey’s 2021 withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention – a landmark European treaty to combat violence against women – activists warn that conditions have deteriorated further, marked by declining institutional commitments to women’s protection.
