"Bathroom Angel"'s Devils Called to Account

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Milliyet Newspaper, 12 June 2019)


                         An angel's wings are clipped.

Melek (which means 'angel'), one of Hanım and Kasım Levent's 8
children living in Çağlayan village in Ağrı province's Hamur district,
married Ferdi Karaaslan when she was 16.  Melek had two son with
Ferdi but her husband, father-in-law Kutbettin Karaaslan and mother-
in-law Naciye Karaaslan eventually locked her in a toilet because of
her "bathroom" illness (constant wetting and diarrhea) and left Melek
without even water.

Melek's older brother Reis Levent, working in Istanbul, got word of
his sister's plight, came to the village and freed Melek, who was near
death and psychologically battered.  She was taken to Ağrı State
Hospital and, with the intercession of the concerned Ministry, transported
to Ankara by air-ambulance.  However, Melek died in Ankara on 25
July 2012.


                                               "What?"

A case was opened against Ferdi, Kutbettin and Naciye Karaaslan for
causing Melek's death.  At the court session on 22 January 2014, Ferdi
was sentenced to 8 years 4 months and his parents each got 6 years and
3 months.  Melek's father Kasım was sentenced to 2 years 1 month in
jail. 

However, the sentences were objected to by the public prosecutor, the
Family Labor and Social Services Ministry and Melek's lawyers so after
a new trial on 20 February 2019, Ferdi was sentenced to 16 years 8
months and his parents' sentences were both increased to 12 years 6
months.  Melek's father Kasım was acquitted.


She's why those mother-in-law stories never go away.

The court record gave the following account of Melek's death:
"Because the deceased was constantly wetting herself and defecating
in her clothes, she was locked in a toilet 'to prevent the house from
smelling and microbes from spreading to others.'  The deceased was
made to sleep on a wooden board and her health deteriorated because
of inactivity and deprivation.  Her wounds became infected and the
infection spread throughout her body, resulting in her death."



 
Ağrı province, in eastern Turkey, borders Iran (right). Hamur
district is just south of Ağrı city.