News Editor Ajda Ender /Harrisons
This is the message from beyond the grave left by a young student nurse who urged people to share it if she died young and which has now helped see her policeman ex-lover jailed for life for her murder.
Ayse Tokyaz poses in undated photo. She was murdered and found in a suitcase on a road in Istanbul, Turkey. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
Former cop officer Cemil Koc was sentenced at a court in Istanbul, Turkey, on 9th September for murdering 22-year-old university student Ayse Tokyaz.
Ayse Tokyaz poses in undated photo. She was murdered and found in a suitcase on a road in Istanbul, Turkey. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
In the chilling video recorded before her death, Ayse looks directly into the camera and tells friends to make sure the message reaches the people she loves if she dies.
She says: “Hello dear friends. Let this video be a gift to you for the rest of my life.
“If I die one day, please share this video with my loved ones. I love you all very much, but there are a few people who don’t deserve my blessing.”
Ayse Tokyaz poses in undated photo. She was murdered and found in a suitcase on a road in Istanbul, Turkey. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
Ayse was later abducted and taken to Koc’s apartment in Istanbul’s Kucukcekmece district, where prosecutors said he forced her to take cocaine to stop her resisting and subjected her to systematic violence.
Ayse Tokyaz poses in undated photo. She was murdered and found in a suitcase on a road in Istanbul, Turkey. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
The court heard that Koc savagely beat the student nurse, causing a fatal brain haemorrhage.
Ayse Tokyaz poses in undated photo. She was murdered and found in a suitcase on a road in Istanbul, Turkey. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
Her body was then stuffed into a large suitcase and eventually dumped beside a road in Istanbul’s Eyupsultan district, where it was found on 13th July 2025.
Picture shows the former police officer C.K., undated. He allegedly tried to persuade Ayse Tokyaz and her family for the marriage. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
CCTV footage gathered during the investigation showed Koc leaving his home carrying the large suitcase.
Ayse Tokyaz speaks in undated video. She was murdered and found in a suitcase on a road in Istanbul, Turkey. Note: Image is a screenshot from video. (Newsflash/NX)
Investigators said he put it into the boot of a friend’s red car before arranging for other men to transport it in another vehicle and abandon it by the roadside.
Video shows the victim and then the suspect allegedly carrying Ayse Tokyaz’s body in a suitcase on different locations in Istanbul, Turkey, undated. The student was murdered. Note: Photo is a screenshot from a video(Newsflash/NX)
Ayse’s final video message was among the evidence considered in the case that ended with Koc being convicted of her murder.
Video shows the victim and then the suspect allegedly carrying Ayse Tokyaz’s body in a suitcase on different locations in Istanbul, Turkey, undated. The student was murdered. Note: Photo is a screenshot from a video(Newsflash/NX)
Koc continued to deny killing her and told the court during his final defence that Ayse had fallen down stairs after taking drugs.
He said: “This was not a murder, it was a fall.”
The former police officer claimed he had tried to revive Ayse with CPR and argued that injuries found on her body had been caused by those efforts.
Video shows the victim and then the suspect allegedly carrying Ayse Tokyaz’s body in a suitcase on different locations in Istanbul, Turkey, undated. The student was murdered. Note: Photo is a screenshot from a video(Newsflash/NX)
Ayse’s mother Halime Tokyaz broke down as Koc gave his final defence and shouted from the courtroom: “Enough of your lies. I am her mother. I haven’t even been able to grieve for my daughter.”
Cemil Koc and Ejegul Ovezova pose in undated photo. Cemil Koc, 38, who was arrested in connection with the murder of university student Ayse Tokyaz, 22, in Istanbul, attended the hearing of the case regarding the death of Ejegul Ovezova, 29. Note: Private photo. (Newsflash/NX)
She had earlier told judges: “They didn’t just destroy Ayse, they destroyed all of us. I want them to receive the heaviest punishment.”
Former police officer Cemil Koc allegedly assaults his ex girlfriend Ejegul Ovezova, who passed away years ago, undated footage. She died in 2023 after falling from a top floor of an apartment building. Note: Photo is a screenshot from a video. (Newsflash/NX)
Ayse’s twin sister Esra Tokyaz had also submitted photographs, videos and documents which she said showed Koc had been violent towards other women before her sister’s death.
Earlier footage presented to the court showed Koc allegedly dragging another former girlfriend by the hair while her hands and feet were bound and striking her as she lay on the floor.
After hearing the case, judges convicted Koc of intentionally killing a woman with extreme cruelty and inflicting suffering and sentenced him to aggravated life imprisonment without any reduction.
He was also sentenced to five years in prison for unlawfully depriving a person of their liberty and two years for unlawfully obtaining or disclosing personal data, as well as receiving a TRY 5,000 (GBP 76) fine.
Koc was handed further prison terms in a separate case, including seven years for depriving a person of their liberty through force and threats and five years for destroying, concealing or altering criminal evidence.
Several other defendants were also convicted of offences linked to the case, while two accused of helping with the murder were acquitted.
(Harrisons)
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