A 19-year-old male, namely Semih Çelik, committed suicide by jumping off the historical walls in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Türkiye, after killing his girlfriend and friend yesterday. Killing his first victim, his girlfriend named Ayşenur Halil, at around 15:30 local time in the Eyüpsultan district, Çelik met his friend, Ikbal Uzuner, to climb the historical walls, where he cut off her head, threw it off the walls and jumped off.

It was determined that the 19-year-old attacker, who reportedly had a video recording in which he confessed that he was going to kill his girlfriend a year ago but changed his mind and a picture of a woman with her head and body drawn separately in his house, had previously received psychological intervention multiple times and attempted suicide.

Two days ago, in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, two men with dozens of criminal records sexually harassed another young woman late at night, were released after being arrested, but were arrested again and sent to prison due to public outrage.

The increase in the number of attacks targeting especially young women in Türkiye in recent days has sparked controversy against the Turkish justice system. Many people have called for stronger regulations against people who are walking freely despite having dozens of criminal records, mostly due to not being charged with the necessary deterrent punishment after a crime or being released from jail in a rather short time.