Murder of Pınar Gültekin

Pınar Gültekin, born 1 October 1993, was a student at Muğla University's School of Economics. On 16 July 2020, she left her home in the Akyaka neighborhood of Ula, a town in Muğla Province, Turkey, where she lived alone. When she could not be reached by family and friends, her younger sister and mother traveled to Muğla, reported her disappearance to the Akyaka Gendarmerie General Command, and appealed for public help on social media.

On 21 July 2020, Gültekin's body was found in the rural neighborhood of Yerkesik in Menteşe, discovered in a plastic box in a forested area. The main suspect identified in the case was Cemal Metin Avcı, 32 at the time, who was married and a father of two. In his testimony, Avcı stated he wanted to rekindle a past relationship with Gültekin, and that after she refused, an argument led him to beat her unconscious before she was strangled. Gültekin's family disputed his account of a relationship, describing him instead as a jilted stalker who had met her at a bar and began obsessively messaging her; her father said Avcı killed her after she blocked him on social media.

Investigators determined that Avcı purchased two bottles of gasoline from a gas station the day of the killing and attempted to destroy evidence by burning Gültekin's body in a garbage barrel in the forested area before pouring concrete over it. Asked why he committed the murder, Avcı said he "killed her in a moment of anger." The Gültekin family's lawyer, Rezan Epözdemir, said the family believed the murder was premeditated and involved other people, and conveyed these suspicions to the prosecutor.

Avcı was initially sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment, later reduced to 23 years on grounds of "unjust provocation" by the victim. At a hearing on 20 June 2022 before the Muğla 3rd High Criminal Court, Avcı's brother — previously sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly aiding the murder — was acquitted, as were Avcı's mother, father, ex-wife, and partner on charges of destroying and concealing evidence. The İzmir Regional Court of Appeal later overturned that court's decision, reinstating aggravated life imprisonment for Avcı and sentencing his brother to four years for concealing evidence. In February 2025, Turkey's Court of Cassation overturned the Regional Court of Appeal's ruling by majority vote, stating that the provocation discount should be applied to Avcı.

The case prompted a major public reaction in Turkey, including statements from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and government ministers, reactions from mayors, celebrities, and sports figures, and protests by women's rights activists, some of whom were detained by police in İzmir. The murder also contributed to renewed global attention on the Instagram hashtag campaign #ChallengeAccepted, used by Turkish women to highlight violence against women.