Minibus mafia in Turkey

Last week was the anniversary of the gang rape incident and horrible murder of the Indian medical student at a New Delhi bus. She was raped and mutilated with an iron rod, her internal organs fatally injured. She died 13 days later. It was only a few weeks ago when Özgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old student, was attacked by a minibus driver, beaten by tire iron. The attacker later chopped her hands off, most probably while she was still alive, not to leave DNA traces under her fingernails. It is difficult to write and read this much cruelty?

In both incidents victims got into a small bus or a minibus to travel from one place to another and they ended up tortured and dead.

The midi-bus or the minibus seems to be a place where the aggressiveness finds an atmosphere to blossom. This kind of a small bus creates monsters I guess. It is not a car; the car is too small to move around. It is not a big bus; a big bus is too public, probably too bright. The size of the minibus, van, or a midi-bus like the one in New Delhi, seems to be perfect for these kinds of crimes.

What made me think about this is the information and comment that students from Özgecan's university, Ça? University had filed complaints to the administration many times before this horrendous event happened. The students were not happy with the limited shuttle services the school was providing; they had to take these minibuses after late classes. Anyway, students complained on the dangerous driving and the way they treated students. The university did not do anything about it.

Then I read a city planner who said, "This is a consequence of bad planning and freakish urban development. If you build a university at the middle of nowhere with no transportation facilities, without...