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Murder of Hatun Sürücü

SOLVED2005Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
File:Hatun Sürücü - Landschaftsfriedhof Berlin-Gatow .jpg
File:Hatun Sürücü - Landschaftsfriedhof Berlin-Gatow .jpg — Credit: Mutter Erde · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hatun Sürücü, sometimes recorded as Hatun "Aynur" Sürücü, was born on 17 January 1982 to Kerem, a gardener's assistant from the village of Uzunark in Turkey's Erzurum Province, and Hanım, from the nearby village of Marifet. She was part of a Kurdish family living in Berlin. At age 16 she was sent to Istanbul and forced to marry a cousin; she gave birth to a son, Can, in 1999. That October she left her parents' home in Berlin and found refuge in a home for underage mothers. She went on to divorce her husband, attend school, and move into her own apartment in Berlin's Tempelhof neighbourhood. By early 2005 she had also begun a relationship with a German man and was nearing the end of training to become an electrician.

On 7 February 2005, Sürücü was shot three times in the head at a bus stop near her apartment. She was 23 years old. Police arrested three of her brothers a week later, on 14 February. Sürücü had reported threats to police before she was killed, and in the weeks that followed, news coverage increasingly described the killing as an "honour killing" — by report the sixth such killing in Germany since October 2004.

In July 2005, Berlin prosecutors charged Sürücü's three brothers with her murder. On 14 September 2005, the youngest, Ayhan Sürücü, confessed to killing his sister. In April 2006 a Berlin court sentenced Ayhan to nine years and three months in prison; his two older brothers were acquitted of conspiring in the killing. Prosecutors immediately appealed to Germany's Federal Court of Justice, the Bundesgerichtshof, whose fifth criminal division overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial, set for August 2008. Ayhan Sürücü ultimately completed a prison sentence and, on 4 July 2014, was released and deported from Germany to Turkey.

The killing drew wide public attention in Germany. A vigil organized by a Berlin gay and lesbian association was held at the crime scene on 22 February 2005, drawing about 100 Germans and Turks together; a second vigil followed on 24 February, called for by politicians and artists. The case, along with similar killings elsewhere in Europe, was cited by opponents of Turkey's admission to the European Union. Sürücü's Kurdish background also entered the public debate; Kurdish politician Giyasettin Sayan said no Kurdish representatives had been invited to the demonstrations held after her death. Controversy continued when Sürücü's sister, Arzu, sought custody of Hatun's six-year-old son, Can, who had been in foster care since the murder; a Berlin-Tempelhof district court rejected the request, and a subsequent appeal was also denied. A bridge in Berlin's Neukölln district was later named for Sürücü, and the case inspired two films, Die Fremde (When We Leave) in 2010 and A Regular Woman in 2019. Activists and members of the public continue to mark the anniversary of her death with memorials and campaigns against forced marriage and honour-related violence.

Key facts

Victims
Hatun Sürücü
Date
2005
Location
Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 1982-01-17

    Hatun Sürücü is born to Kerem, a gardener's assistant from Uzunark in Turkey's Erzurum Province, and Hanım, from the nearby village of Marifet.

  2. 1999

    Sürücü gives birth to a son, Can, after being forced at age 16 to marry a cousin in Istanbul.

  3. 1999-10

    Sürücü leaves her parents' home in Berlin and takes refuge in a home for underage mothers.

  4. 2005-02-07

    Sürücü, 23, is shot three times in the head at a bus stop near her apartment in Berlin.

  5. 2005-02-14

    Police arrest three of Sürücü's brothers.

  6. 2005-02-22

    A vigil organized by the Berlin Gay and Lesbian association is held at the murder scene, attended by about 100 Germans and Turks together.

  7. 2005-02-24

    A second vigil, called for by German politicians and artists, is held.

  8. 2005-07

    The Berlin Public Prosecutor's office charges Sürücü's three brothers with her murder.

  9. 2005-09-14

    Ayhan Sürücü, the youngest brother, confesses to murdering his sister.

  10. 2006-04

    Ayhan Sürücü is sentenced to nine years and three months in prison; his two older brothers are acquitted of conspiring to murder their sister.

  11. 2008-08

    A new criminal proceeding is set to take place after Germany's Federal Court of Justice overturns the verdict on appeal and orders a revision.

  12. 2014-07-04

    After completing his prison sentence, Ayhan Sürücü is released and deported from Germany to Turkey.

  13. 2010

    Die Fremde (When We Leave), the first film inspired by the case, is released.

  14. 2019

    A Regular Woman, a film about the case, is released.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Ayhan Sürücü

    CONVICTED

    Youngest brother of Hatun Sürücü; confessed on 14 September 2005 to murdering his sister and was sentenced in April 2006 to nine years and three months in prison. Germany's Federal Court of Justice overturned that verdict on appeal and ordered a new trial in August 2008. He completed a prison sentence and was released and deported from Germany to Turkey on 4 July 2014.

  • Hatun Sürücü

    VICTIM

    23-year-old Kurdish-German woman shot three times in the head at a bus stop near her apartment in Berlin on 7 February 2005, in a killing publicly characterized as an honour killing carried out by her youngest brother.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Archival records

  • File:Hatun Sürücü - Landschaftsfriedhof Berlin-Gatow .jpg

    portrait victim

    File:Hatun Sürücü - Landschaftsfriedhof Berlin-Gatow .jpg

    Credit: Mutter Erde · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Places

Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

52.4700, 13.3900

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Hatun Sürücü, a 23-year-old Kurdish-German woman, was shot dead at a Berlin bus stop on 7 February 2005 by her youngest brother, Ayhan, in an honour killing that followed her divorce from a forced marriage and ignited nationwide debate over forced marriage and family violence in Germany's Turkish and Kurdish communities.
Where did the murder happen?
Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany.
Who was convicted?
Ayhan Sürücü (Youngest brother of Hatun Sürücü; confessed on 14 September 2005 to murdering his sister and was sentenced in April 2006 to nine years and three months in prison. Germany's Federal Court of Justice overturned that verdict on appeal and ordered a new trial in August 2008. He completed a prison sentence and was released and deported from Germany to Turkey on 4 July 2014.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Germany

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICMurder of Hatun SürücüWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — BBC NewsBBC News · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — The TelegraphThe Telegraph · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026