One year has passed since the suspicious death of Rojin Kabaiş, a 1st year student at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Department of Child Development. 

 

On 24 September 2024, Rojin Kabaiş, who left her home in Amed with her father to go to university, left the student dormitory in Wan where she was staying on 27 September 2024 and never returned. Rojin Kabaiş's body was found on 15 October 2024 on the shore of Molla Kasım neighbourhood of Lake Wan. 

 

The Rojin Kabaiş case opened after the suspicious death has not made any progress despite a year. The DNA samples found on Rojin Kabaiş's body, which were reported to belong to 2 male persons, and the blood stain on her singlet, which was learnt to belong to a woman, were not identified. The family, the Wan Bar Association and the Amed Bar Association continue their legal struggle in the case where the confidentiality order continues. 

 

Speaking about Rojin Kabaiş's suspicious death one year later, Rojin Kabaiş's mother Aygül Kabaiş stated that the police called her the day after Rojin's disappearance and told her that her daughter did not come to the dormitory. Aygül Kabaiş said that they travelled to Wan after the phone call. "By the time we got the news and went to Wan, 24 hours had already passed. It was over in 24 hours, they have just been informed that he disappeared, they will do whatever they can in that time," she said. 

 

18 DAYS ON THE SHORE OF LAKE WAN

 

Aygül Kabaiş said that they searched on the shore of Lake Wan for 18 days to find her daughter: "Rojin did not enter the water, they should not say 'she entered the water and drowned'. Whatever happened happened at the school, the dormitory has a hand in it." 

 

CALL TO ROOMMATE

 

Aygül Kabaiş said that her daughter called her on video the day she disappeared and that she was in a good mood. "Rojin's roommate calls Rojin, says 'Where are you? Rojin says, 'I'm in front of the supermarket'. Then Rojin calls him again and says, 'Bring the charger when you come back'. The roommate took the charger and left. There was not one charger in Rojin's bag. It had 2 charges," mother said. 

 

Mother Aygül Kabaiş called out to her daughter's roommate and said: "You took the charger, come and tell me what you know. Why are you hiding it? You hide it today, you can't hide it tomorrow. Rojin was just like you." 

 

Emphasising that they are suing both the dormitory and the school, Aygül Kabaiş said: "The dormitory says, 'We don't inform the families until 23.00. You should have notified them afterwards. Why did you inform them at 12.00 the next day? We will sue them until the day he dies. May God honour him. We want their murderers to be exposed and punished." 

 

'ROJI·N WAS NOT A SUICIDAL PERSON'

 

Reacting to the allegations that her daughter committed suicide, Aygül Kabaiş concluded: "Rojin was not a suicidal person. She was very afraid of water. Rojin never committed suicide. We never accept this. We will pursue the case until we die. We want them to tell us everything, we want everything to come out. It happened to Rojin, we don't want it to happen to anyone else. We do not accept it. One year has passed. As our lungs burned, so should theirs. We will pursue the perpetrators until they are revealed. Why did they do this to Rojin? We are all psychologically disturbed, we are on medication. We entrusted her to teachers and the dormitory. Why didn't they take care of her? We want the perpetrators to be found and punished."

 

MA / Rukiye Payiz Adıgüzel