Death of İpek Er

İpek Er was an 18-year-old student from Batman, Turkey. Her family reported her missing on 24 June 2020, and she was found on 3 July in a house in Kurtalan, Siirt. On 7 July, her family filed a criminal complaint against Musa Orhan, a specialized sergeant in the Turkish army, alleging that he had raped and abducted her. According to the family's account, Er had told Orhan she could not return home after the alleged rape unless he married her; he reportedly sent her to a cousin in Izmir and promised marriage, then became uncontactable. An investigation into Orhan began on 10 July, along with a request for his dismissal from the military.

On 16 July 2020, Er attempted to take her own life with her father's rifle. She survived the attempt but was severely injured and was treated at a hospital in Batman. She had told others that she had been drugged and raped by Orhan, that this had happened before, and that he believed he would not be held accountable if she complained. Questioned by authorities, Orhan initially denied wrongdoing, but after a forensic investigation he claimed he had been intoxicated at the time. Text messages attributed to Orhan, in which he purportedly admitted to raping Er repeatedly, were later circulated on social media.

Following Er's suicide attempt, a public campaign demanding Orhan's arrest emerged among Turkish civil society and women's organizations. He was detained on 17 July and questioned by a judge. After a week in custody, a court ordered his release pending trial, citing the absence of a flight risk. Both the Siirt Bar Association and the public prosecutor appealed this decision, but the appeals were unsuccessful. A separate criminal sexual misconduct investigation into Orhan opened on 27 July. Er died on 18 August 2020, after twenty days of hospitalization in Batman. On 1 September 2020, the Ministry of the Interior announced Orhan had been dismissed from the military.

Orhan's trial began on 16 October 2020, with proceedings continuing amid COVID-19-related restrictions that limited courtroom access. A further hearing was postponed to 25 February 2021, at which Orhan appeared via video conference and declined to make a statement; a renewed request by Er's mother for his arrest was denied. In December 2021, a court in Siirt sentenced Orhan to 10 years in prison but did not order his detention.

The case drew significant political and social reaction in Turkey, including criticism from opposition politicians over Orhan's release, public statements by government officials, protests organized by women's rights groups in Istanbul and Izmir, and prosecutions of several public figures who publicly criticized Orhan or called him a rapist on social media.