Suspect who killed his ex-wife in front of the faculty: My mental health was not stable

The trial of F.K., who killed his ex-wife Meliha Keskin—a Turkish Folklore student at the Erciyes University Faculty of Letters and a mother of 3—with a pump-action shotgun in front of the faculty on October 23, 2025, in Kayseri, continued at the Kayseri 1st High Criminal Court. The hearing was attended by the detained defendant F.K. and his lawyer, as well as relatives of the late Meliha Keskin and lawyers representing the Kayseri Bar Association, the Ankara Bar Association's Children and Women First Association, and the Justice is the Foundation of the State Association.

During the hearing, a school friend of Meliha Keskin who was present during the incident, an eyewitness student, and F.K.'s cousin and a friend were heard as witnesses. F.E., identified as a friend of F.K., stated in his testimony that F.K. called him on the day of the incident and said, "I killed the mother of my children." F.E. noted that he did not delete the video F.K. sent him regarding the incident and handed it over to the police. F.E. stated that he had no involvement in the incident.

Meliha Keskin's father, I.K., demanded the harshest punishment for the defendant, saying, "I trust your justice. I want him to be punished in the harshest way possible." Meliha Keskin's sister, M.K.Ç., also stated that she wanted the defendant to receive the maximum sentence, adding, "We tried for years to prevent such an incident from happening, but we could not stop this murderer."

Lawyers representing Meliha Keskin and her relatives stated that the defendant F.K. was trying to evade the consequences of his crime and requested that an investigation be opened against the witness F.E. for tampering with evidence, failure to report a crime, and giving false testimony.

"My mental health was not stable"

In his defense, the defendant F.K. claimed that his ex-wife and her family had psychologically destroyed him, stating, "My mental health was not stable." F.K. alleged that his ex-wife's family had threatened him and requested that his barber friend, S.Ç., be heard as a witness, claiming he had witnessed these events. Asserting that his own son was also lying, F.K. said, "They seized my father's assets. They are lying."

At the end of the hearing, the court panel rejected the request by F.K. and his lawyer for a new report on whether his mental state was sound and adjourned the hearing to a later date to address missing procedural requirements.