The Murder of Başak Cengiz

Başak Cengiz lived in Ankara and had come to Istanbul for professional training connected with an architecture project. On the evening of November 9, 2021, while she was walking in Ataşehir, she was attacked by Can Göktuğ Boz, a man she did not know. She was taken to hospital and died from her injuries.

Başak Cengiz

Başak was 28 and worked as an architect. Anadolu Agency reported that she was in Istanbul temporarily for training and was close to returning home to Ankara. Her family, fiancé and colleagues became central public voices after her death, but the criminal case itself established that she and the attacker had no prior relationship.

That lack of connection matters editorially. This was not a dispute between acquaintances. The court record, as summarized in later appellate reporting, described an offender who selected a woman in public without knowing her.

The attack and arrest

The attack occurred on November 9, 2021, in the Barbaros neighborhood of Ataşehir. Witnesses intervened or attempted to intervene, and the attacker also threatened a person who tried to stop him. Police arrested Can Göktuğ Boz shortly afterward.

Investigators recovered the weapon used in the attack and other bladed items from the suspect’s residence. Prosecutors charged him with an aggravated form of intentional murder, as well as an aggravated threat offence and a weapons offence.

Criminal responsibility

One of the central pretrial questions concerned Boz’s mental condition. His defense raised psychiatric history, and the court obtained expert assessments. Anadolu Agency reported that Turkey’s Council of Forensic Medicine concluded that he had criminal responsibility.

The court therefore did not treat the homicide as the act of a legally non-responsible defendant. The criminal proceedings continued to a merits judgment and sentence.

The 2022 trial judgment

On April 22, 2022, Istanbul Anadolu 4th High Criminal Court convicted Can Göktuğ Boz of intentionally killing Başak Cengiz under an aggravated classification described in Turkish reporting as killing with “monstrous feeling or by inflicting torment.” The court imposed aggravated life imprisonment for the murder.

It also sentenced him to four years for aggravated threats against Kaan Ağaca, who had tried to intervene, and one additional year for the weapons offence. The court did not apply a discretionary sentence reduction.

Regional appeal

On October 7, 2022, Istanbul Regional Court of Justice’s 1st Criminal Chamber rejected the appeals and found the trial judgment appropriate. The murder portion of the case remained subject to further review before the Court of Cassation.

Final Court of Cassation review

On October 24, 2024, the 1st Criminal Chamber of Turkey’s Court of Cassation completed its review. It upheld the aggravated-life sentence for Başak’s murder and also upheld the four-year threat sentence and one-year weapons sentence.

That ruling is the key current legal endpoint for this archive. The case is therefore classified as solved / adjudicated, rather than merely “convicted at trial” or “appeal pending.”

Gender-based targeting

Reporting on the court record established that Boz did not know Başak before the attack and that his own account described choosing a woman as a target. This file treats that as part of the documented evidence about selection of the victim, not as permission to sensationalize the offender’s statements.

Başak’s murder became part of a wider public discussion in Turkey about violence against women. That social context is important, but the case page keeps it separate from the specific legal findings against Boz.

Timeline

1. November 9, 2021
   Attack in Ataşehir

   Başak Cengiz is attacked while walking in the Barbaros neighborhood of Istanbul’s Ataşehir district.

2. November 10, 2021
   Başak dies

   Başak dies after being taken to hospital; the suspect is in police custody and is sent into pretrial detention.

3. 2021–2022
   Forensic psychiatric assessment

   Expert assessments conclude that Can Göktuğ Boz has criminal responsibility.

4. April 22, 2022
   Trial conviction

   Anadolu 4th High Criminal Court imposes aggravated life imprisonment for murder, plus four years for threats and one year for a weapons offence.

5. October 7, 2022
   Regional appeal rejected

   Istanbul Regional Court of Justice’s 1st Criminal Chamber upholds the trial-level result.

6. October 24, 2024
   Court of Cassation upholds sentences

   Turkey’s Court of Cassation confirms the aggravated-life murder sentence and the additional five years.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Can Göktuğ Boz’s aggravated-life conviction for murdering Başak Cengiz, along with the additional threat and weapons sentences, was upheld by the Court of Cassation on October 24, 2024.