Turkish court reduces killer husband's prison sentence over "unfair provocation"

The prison sentence of a man who killed his unofficially wedded wife was reduced by a Turkish court on grounds of "unfair provocation" by the wife, who allegedly had an extramarital affair.

The couple had been married by a religious ceremony while the man was officially married to another woman, lived 20 years as husband and wife, and had a child, Turkish news agency DHA said on Sunday. The woman was found dead in her house by her 17-year-old daughter on 4 October 2020, and the husband eventually turned himself in with the gun he shot his wife.

The 4th Heavy Penal Court in Turkey's southern province of Adana recently reduced the life imprisonment sentence of 63-year-old Abdullah Kaya to 18 years in prison, saying that he killed 39-year-old Hulya Gulluce "because he was enraged by her behavior and her affair with another man."

According to the Turkish legislation, a convict who is sentenced to a prison term of 18 years may be released on probation after serving 11 years.

The lawyer of the victim's family said after the announcement of the verdict that she will appeal the court's ruling.

Lawyer Oya Tekin noted that the relationship between the victim and the killer had already ended before the deadly incident, that the victim had told the husband many times beforehand that she wanted a separation, and that the husband did not accept and threatened his wife with killing her.

Tekin added that the incident was intentional homicide.