“I can find no words to say after seeing my baby yesterday in that condition. I am calling on the state to hang him as an example to all. They should not give him a glass of water but hang him in order to douse the fire in my heart.”

This desperate intonation came from the mother of 6-year-old Gizem Akdeniz, whose fate scorched the conscience of the nation after her brutally disfigured body was found. Press reports said she was murdered by a male relative who reportedly wanted revenge on Gizem’s family for refusing to let him marry her older sister.

Following a massive manhunt and his arrest, the suspected young killer, only named as S.A., was said to have confessed to this crime committed in Adana. In his confession to police, made available to the press, he reportedly said he had tricked little Gizem by telling her they were going on a picnic. Instead, he took her to a secluded place, bound her hands and legs with tape, stabbed her repeatedly with his knife, poured petrol on her and set her alight while she was still alive. He then waited 25 minutes for her cries to die out before leaving the scene of the crime.

News of Gizem’s brutal murder came only days after a similar incident, this time in the city of Kars. Nine-year-old Mert Aydin was murdered by A.B., a 23-year-old with a police record who was also arrested following a massive manhunt. According to the autopsy, the unfortunate boy died after having been hit on the head with a stone, strangled and then raped.