İbrahim Maşe / Mersin, Sep 9 () - In memory of Ozgecan Aslan, a young girl brutally murdered, body burned in Turkey’s southeastern province of Mersin in February, a statue sculptured by Mehmet Aksoy was installed near her grave.

The burned body of Özgecan Aslan, 20-year-old female student who had been missing for two days has been discovered on Feb. 13 in a riverbed of Tarsus district. Three suspects have been detained for stabbing Aslan to death and later burning her remains. The murder has sparked an outrage in Turkey, while people hit streets to protest violence against women.

The opening ceremony of the marble statue completed in six months was accompanied by Özgecan Aslan’s father Mehmet, mother Songül Aslan, along with Beste and Barış Ali, her siblings.

The statue made in two parts and figure of Özegan with her hair blowing in the wind. On one of the wings of the figure, the murderer’s nail traces are marked to illustrate the traces that Ozgecan has left on the offender’s face while resisting his attempts to rape her. A banner reading “ I love with my spririt” was placed.

While emotional moments marked the gathering, mother Songül Aslan burst into tears, and the group prayed for Özgecan, as well as military officers who have lost their lives in terror attacks.

Sculptor Mehmet Aksoy told he had dreamed of the statue of Ozgecan, with all its details, and had woken up to drew those details. Aksoy had spoken to Özgecan’s father to ask for permission.

Father Mehmet Aslan also made a statement and urged people to “give up the fierceness”, addressing the terror attacks along with his daughter’s murder.

“If you have faith, I call on grateful mothers and fathers of across all the Anatolia. Let’s make the sun rise together. We all believe in Allah. Kurd, Turk, Acem, Cherkes, it doesn’t matter…” said the mourning father.

Public prosecutor deliberated and requested aggravated life sentence the three suspects, Ahmet Suphi Altındöken, his father Necmettin Altındöken and his friend Fatih Gökçe who had brutally killed the young women.

The prosecution office demanded the highest stage of penalty without abatement, due to the indignance the incident has caused among the Turkish society.

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