A woman has been stabbed in the heart by her husband hours before the couple were due to get divorced.

The murder is the latest in a number of femicides in Turkey and her mother arranged for only women to be in the funeral procession for murdered Bihter Yalcinsoy, 31, to highlight the tragedy of the women who were being murdered.

The victim’s ex, Rahman Yalcinsoy, 36, is accused of killing Bihter after six years of marriage in the neighbourhood of Cumhuriyet in the district of Karsiyaka in the Turkish province of Izmir on 8th October.

The couple were in the process of divorcing and their hearing was due in court the same day as the alleged murder. Instead, he had turned up at her address, and – once she opened the door, he plunged the knife into her heart.

The funeral of the victim, who was buried on the evening of 8th October, was attended by her loved ones with the funeral procession only including women friends and family, and women’s rights activists.

She was buried in the neighbourhood of Buyukdere in the district of Odunpazari.

The victim’s mother Gulay Yilmaz said: “My Bihter, my baby, how could he hit your beautiful face? What kind of love is this? It is not love. Is human life really so cheap? So many women die. Please be the last my baby.”

The murdered woman’s estranged husband has been arrested, and the investigation continues.