Ex-boyfriend given 15 years for shooting Turkish talent singer

Mutlu Kaya had been receiving death threats for appearing in the show, Sesi Cok Guzel

ISTANBUL: A court in southeast Turkey on Thursday sentenced a Turkish man to 15 years in jail for shooting his ex-girlfriend in the head after she rose to prominence in a nationwide talent show.

The shooting of Mutlu Kaya, who spent weeks in a coma after the incident, rapidly became a symbol of violence against women in Turkey, particularly in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

The court in the Ergani district of Diyarbakir found Veysi Ercan, 26, guilty of intentionally trying to kill Kaya, 19, by shooting through the windows of her home, the Dogan news agency reported

The defendant did not deny firing the shots, saying he had shot through the windows randomly in anger after being "insulted" by Kaya. He insisted the fact she was struck was an accident.



Prosecutors however argued that Ercan had been unable to accept Kaya's success in the talent show and as a result had fired four shots into her home with the aim of hitting her.

Kaya had been appearing on the show "Sesi Cok Guzel," similar to "Britain's Got Talent," on the Turkish private channel Fox. She had been mentored by Sibel Can, one of Turkey's best known folk pop singers.

The young woman had previously received death threats for appearing in the show. She spent a month in a coma and was still subsequently confined to a wheelchair.

The Kurdish-majority southeast of Turkey is known for its strongly conservative values, with women expected to perform a traditional role.

The attack on Kaya came at a time of intensifying anger in Turkey over the extent of violence against women, with hundreds of wives killed by their husbands every year.

According to the non-governmental Platform to Stop Violence Against Women, 290 women were murdered in Turkey in 2015 and 103 so far this year.



In another high profile case, a Turkish woman who shot dead her husband after being repeatedly beaten by him was sentenced to 15 years jail by a court in the Adana region, Turkish television said.

Women's rights activists had called for the release of Cilem Karabulut, saying she had been systematically abused by her husband and pressured to work as a prostitute.

The case sparked huge media attention in Turkey, in particular because of her defiant demeanour which extended to wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan in English: "Dear Past, thanks for all the lessons. Dear Future, I am ready."