A report on the death of journalist Dilan Karaman, who was hospitalized after being driven to suicide in Diyarbakır (Amed) on 11 November 2025 and died after spending 10 days in intensive care, has been made public. The commission formed by women’s organizations emphasized that the process leading to Karaman’s death cannot be reduced to her private life or psychological condition.
The report stated that the incident must instead be understood as a multilayered process shaped by intertwined institutional, relational, and structural factors.
Women’s organizations form commission
It was stated that the commission, announced on 25 November 2025, consists of representatives from the Free Women’s Movement (TJA), the Diyarbakır Bar Association (Amed) Women’s Rights Center, the Association for Combating Violence and Supporting Women’s Rights (DAKAH-DER), the Women’s Commission of the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) Amed Branch, and the Rosa Women’s Association. The commission emphasized that it is not a judicial body but aims to make visible the human rights and social responsibility dimensions of the incident.
Emphasis on partner violence
The report noted that on the morning of the day she lost her life, Dilan Karaman contacted several people and said she had been threatened by her partner, Mazlum Toprak, who frightened her with a sharp object, pulled her hair and forced her out of the house. It stated that the fact she conveyed these accounts to different people on the same morning indicates that the incident was not fabricated.
Although Toprak denied physical violence, the report said he admitted to using a sharp object and making threats. The commission concluded that Dilan Karaman had been subjected to intimate partner violence shortly before her death.
Delayed hospital referral
The commission report stated that although Dilan Karaman should have been immediately referred to a medical facility following her suicide attempt, the intervention of health and security units was delayed. It emphasized that the claim she could not be taken for treatment because she was conscious has no legal validity.
The report also stated that the emergency services (112) and law enforcement failed to fulfill their duty to protect a person facing a clear life-threatening situation, describing this as a serious failure of public service.
Mobbing and heavy workload
The report noted that Dilan Karaman was working simultaneously in several political and institutional fields, carrying out multiple responsibilities including consultancy, press work and digital media production. It added that, particularly in digital media activities, the constant obligation to produce content erased the boundaries between work and private life.
According to witness accounts, Karaman was ignored within the institution, scolded and humiliated, and subjected to a workload beyond her capacity. The report concluded that these conditions point to a pattern of severe and continuous workplace mobbing.
Political isolation and economic pressure
The report stated that on the day of the incident, Dilan Karaman called several friends and colleagues, but most of these contacts did not turn into concrete solidarity. The commission linked this not to individual indifference but to increasingly superficial forms of political relationships.
It also noted that economic dependency weakened Karaman’s ability to object to her workload and institutional demands, adding that concerns over livelihood and mounting debt led to silence in the face of growing pressure.
Gang allegations
The report also noted that allegations concerning drug trafficking and prostitution gangs reportedly operating in the region were conveyed to the commission. It stated that claims suggesting these structures particularly target women and young people with political identities should be investigated more comprehensively.
Call for structural transformation
In the conclusion of the report, it was emphasized that Dilan Karaman’s death cannot be understood solely as an individual tragedy but must be linked to working conditions, administrative structures and forms of political relations. The report called for the establishment of independent oversight mechanisms against mobbing and psychosocial violations.
The report also included the following statement: “When a woman says, ‘I feel very bad,’ it is not a conversation, it is an alarm. When a woman says, ‘I am not safe here,’ it is not a feeling, it is an emergency.”
The commission concluded that the loss of Dilan Karaman was not only the result of a single perpetrator or institution, but also of the inadequacy of collective responses.
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