A female employee of Turkey’s parliament was fatally stabbed by her estranged husband in Ankara, despite having obtained a court-issued protection order, in a case that has reignited public anger over the state’s failure to prevent femicide, the T24 news website reported.
Saliha Akkaş, 40, who worked for the parliament’s Directorate of Support Services, was attacked with a knife by her husband, Salih Akkaş, amid divorce proceedings. She succumbed to her injuries early Wednesday at a hospital in Ankara. The perpetrator reportedly died by suicide following the attack.
Court records show that Akkaş, a mother of two, filed for divorce in May 2024, citing repeated physical, psychological and economic abuse. She also successfully petitioned for a protective order under Turkey’s Law No. 6284, which is intended to safeguard women from domestic violence.
Her petition included evidence that her husband had threatened her and sent images of firearms. In one message he allegedly wrote: “I will chase you until I die. Get out of this if you can.”
Akkaş’s murder despite the legal protection in place has raised fresh questions about the effectiveness of Turkey’s protective mechanisms for women at risk.
Parliament staff and lawmakers protest
Following her death, parliament employees and lawmakers held a silent sit-in on the steps of the public relations building to condemn gender-based violence. Lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), including deputy group chair Murat Emir, joined the protest.
“She was added to the list of women the state failed to protect,” said CHP Deputy Chairman Burhanettin Bulut on social media. CHP lawmaker Ali Mahir Başarır described the killing as “male violence,” not an isolated incident. CHP Women’s Branch chair Asu Kaya said: “Are you going to ignore the murder of a woman working under the roof of parliament? … Saliha’s name will live on in our struggle.”
A pattern of femicide
Femicide and gender-based violence are persistent problems in Turkey. According to the Bianet news website, an independent platform monitoring such incidents, at least 32 women and five children were killed by men in July 2025 alone. The same report documented 85 women subjected to violence, 20 women harassed, eight children sexually abused and 73 women forced into sex work. The death of 49 women and 24 children were recorded as “suspicious.”
According to The We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP), a leading women’s rights organization in Turkey, at least 394 women were killed by men in Turkey in 2024. The group reported last month that at least 136 women were killed by men in the first six months of 2025.
Critics argue that these figures reflect systemic failures and a broader culture of impunity. Turkish courts have repeatedly faced criticism for handing down lenient sentences to perpetrators, often citing “passion” or the victim’s silence as mitigating factors.
Controversial treaty withdrawal
Turkey faced international backlash in 2021 when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan withdrew the country from the Istanbul Convention, a landmark treaty adopted by the Council of Europe in 2011 to combat violence against women. Turkey was the first country to ratify the convention, but also the first to leave it, via presidential decree.
The government defended the move by claiming the convention conflicted with traditional family values. Women’s rights organizations, the European Union and international watchdogs condemned the decision, warning it would embolden abusers and weaken protections.
A 2022 Human Rights Watch report criticized Ankara’s approach to gender-based violence as paternalistic and insufficiently rooted in human rights. “The government’s framing of women as needing protection, rather than as rights-holders, undermines meaningful change,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, the group’s Turkey director.