4 police officers detained over ties to Istanbul femicide

ISTANBUL

Authorities on July 25 detained four police officers on charges of evidence tampering in connection with a femicide case in Istanbul that has shaken the country.

The body of nursing student Ayşe Tokyaz was found on July 13 inside a suitcase abandoned by the roadside in Istanbul.

The perpetrator, 38-year-old former police officer Cemil Koç, was earlier arrested and charged with premeditated murder.

According to media reports, the 22-year-old woman said Koç that she wanted to leave him shortly before the killing.

In a new development in the case, four active-duty police officers were detained on suspicion of tampering with evidence.

Koç reportedly has a criminal record and was dismissed from the police force last year.

With the July 25 detentions, the total number of people held in the investigation has risen to nine.

Women’s rights advocates earlier said that this is far from an isolated case, pointing to a pattern of ignored warnings, institutional failure and leniency toward perpetrators.

At least 136 women were murdered by men in femicide cases in Türkiye in the first six months of 2025, while another 145 women died under suspicious circumstances, according to a new report from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.