This case sparked outrage in Turkey.
Berfin Özek was only 18 years old when her ex-boyfriend attacked her with acid after their relationship ended. Before carrying it out, he told her something that became etched into the entire case: “If I can’t have you, no one will”. The attack burned her face and chest, destroyed one of her eyes, and left her with serious vision problems in the other.
She reported him, and he was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison. But even from jail, he sent her love letters and repeatedly asked for forgiveness.
When he was released early in 2021, he went looking for her again… and proposed marriage. That was when everything took a turn no one expected: Berfin accepted and ended up marrying the same man who had attacked her.
The story left many people at a loss. Not only because of the brutality of the attack, but because of what came afterward. On social media and in the press, an uncomfortable conversation emerged, trying to explain whether her decision had to do with love, fear, trauma, or something much harder to put into words.