10.06.2026 15:20
The trial of Fatma Adır, a mother of five who killed her husband with a pistol during an attack after alleging he subjected her to systematic violence for 23 years in Kocaeli, continued. In the fourth hearing, the court requested a comprehensive expert report from the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute to determine the psychological and physiological effects of the violence the defendant suffered. Notably, the children did not complain about their mother during the hearing.
In the Gebze district of Kocaeli, on February 7, 2025, at a shop on Adnan Kahveci Street in Ataturk Neighborhood, 47-year-old Fatma Adır, mother of five, shot and killed her husband Seyithan Adır, who she claimed attacked her. Following the incident, Adır was arrested, and the fourth hearing of her trial was held at the Gebze 7th Heavy Criminal Court.
COURT REQUESTS COMPREHENSIVE PANEL REPORT
Attending the hearing were the detained defendant Fatma Adır, the victim's siblings, the defendant's children, and lawyers from both sides. The court was informed that regarding the report requested from the Forensic Medicine Department of Kocaeli University Hospital in the previous hearing, the institution stated that 'since a panel could not be formed, a report signed by a single physician was prepared.'
While the victim's relatives objected to this report, defendant Fatma Adır stated she generally agreed with the report's content, saying, 'My fractures could not be detected because I have healed. However, my old injuries were identified during my general examination. I acted to protect myself. I have been in custody for a long time; I request my release.' The court panel decided to continue the defendant's detention and ordered a comprehensive panel report by sending the file to the relevant expert board of the Istanbul Forensic Medicine Institute.
CHILDREN DID NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THEIR MOTHER
Another notable development in the hearing was the attitude of the children. Zeynep Şakar, the guardian of the minor victims E. and E., stated to the court that although the children were young, they had expressed their will and did not complain about their mother. Due to the legal representative not filing a complaint, the court rejected the children under 15 years old's request to join the case.
"THE REAL VICTIM IS FATMA ADIR, THESE 5 CHILDREN SHOULD BE PROTECTED"
The defendant's lawyer, Ömer Faruk Çelik, argued that his client should be acquitted under self-defense and addressed officials after the hearing:
"When my client first entered prison, she weighed about 80 kilograms. Now she is 52 kilograms. If this were planned, she would be overjoyed; she wouldn't have lost weight. The real victim is Fatma Adır, but she is currently in the defendant's seat. I call on the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Family and Social Policies; these children must be protected. If, one day, these children die working uninsured in a construction site, no one can take responsibility for that."
CHILLING DEFENSE: HE HELD A GUN TO MY MOUTH AND A KNIFE TO MY THROAT
The detained defendant Fatma Adır's statements from the first hearing, describing the nightmare she endured throughout her 23-year marriage, were chilling. Stating that her husband had been gambling for 20 years and took out his anger on them, Adır described the torture she experienced with these words:
Violence Against Children: "My child would come home shaved for the joy of report cards. He would sit on him forcefully, cut his hair saying, 'Why did you make your hair like this?' Even when the children were babies, he was angry; he would grab their throats, they would turn purple, and I thought they would die, then he would let go."
Systematic Torture: "He beat me with the metal pipe of a vacuum cleaner until I passed out, broke my fingers and ribs. Once, he held a gun to my head. He cut my wrist while holding a knife to my throat. He always grabbed my hair, stepped on my neck, and pulled out my hair, throwing it on the floor."
"HE ATTACKED ME SAYING, 'I'M NOT A MAN IF I DON'T KILL YOU'"
Describing the day of the incident, Adır stated that her husband came to the shop looking for a gun, and when a neighbor passed by the door and called out to her, her husband became even angrier:
"He cursed and insulted so much... He told me, 'I will kill you, I'm not a man if I don't kill you.' His eyes were bloodshot. He attacked me as soon as he came, cornering me in front of the door. He shouted, 'Where is my gun?' In a moment, I took that gun from the box and fired. My intention was not to kill; I was in great shock."
HER DAUGHTER'S TESTIMONY BROKE HEARTS: I WENT TO UNIVERSITY WITH A BRUISED FACE
The statements of the couple's university student daughter, Kardelen Adır, who was heard as a witness in the first hearing and defended her mother, caused emotional moments in the courtroom. Stating that her father drove a car at her sibling, the young girl revealed the tragedy they experienced by saying, 'It is a terrifying thing for a mother to put her children to bed with their boots on. We slept with our boots because we were cold. When I was going to university, he beat my mother so much, and then he beat me too. I went to school with a bruised face.'