Diyarbakir’s nightingale Kaya fights her way to recovery

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey 

A teenaged Turkish woman from southeastern Diyarbakir province, who became famous in Turkey during a singing contest before a murder attempt cut short her dreams, is fighting her way to full recovery, her doctor announced Tuesday.

Mutlu Kaya, 19, had won the hearts of many people in the country when she first appeared on television during a singing contest titled “Wonderful Voice” in the Turkish channel, Fox TV. But just as she was beginning to become one of those rare voices from Diyarbakir to become a nationwide household name, a gunman, suspected to be Kaya’s jealous boyfriend, shot her in the head inside her own home on May 18.

On Tuesday, her doctor announced that Kaya had been transferred to a general hospital ward after she completed 37 days of intensive care treatment.

Ulas Aktas, a brain surgeon specialist at the Gazi Yasargil Training and Research Hospital in Diyarbakir, told Anadolu Agency that while Kaya's medical condition was improving with each day, the road to her full recovery would be filled with many challenges.

"She is conscious now and can communicate with us. She has no neurosurgical problems at the moment. But she needs to go through a long period of physiotherapy and rehabilitation," Aktas said.

One of the most painful challenges for the young girl, who once dreamed to the country’s leading singer, will be her ability to speak. According to the doctor, although Kaya has shown remarkable resolve and has begun to communicate, her words and speech remain limited. The good news is that Kaya was now able to consume liquids and soft food, and she was making movement with the help of a wheelchair a few times a day.

Before she appeared on television and tragedy struck, Kaya used to work at a canteen in a school in Diyarbakir. She faced many challenges in her life before, including her inability to attend university because of financial difficulties.

When Kaya sang on television, she would leave everyone impressed, including the jury that included of well-known Turkish singer Sibel Can.

She was due to perform at a local show in Diyarbakir province before she was shot in the head and her singing ambitions were brutally torn down.

According to local news reports published in April, Kaya had received death threats from some of her own relatives who expressed their displeasure at her appearing in a television show.

Police arrested Kaya's ex-boyfriend, Veysi Ercan, on May 19 who was charged with a murder attempt on the young singer, whose life as she once knew may never be the same again.