A total of 205 women were murdered by men in Turkey in the first six months of this year, while 117 died under suspicious circumstances, according a report by the We Will Stop Femicides Platform.
Of all the women who were murdered, 53 percent were killed by their husbands or boyfriends. There was also a considerable increase in femicides compared to first half 2023, during which 147 were murdered.
Although the femicides took place mainly in big cities such as İstanbul and Ankara, there was an increase in domestic violence cases across the country. Women’s rights activists criticized authorities for failing to conduct thorough investigations into suspicious deaths.
Femicides and violence against women are serious problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten almost every day. Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by granting them impunity.
A total of 315 women were murdered in Turkey in 2023.
In a move that attracted national and international outrage, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan through a presidential decree pulled the country out of an international treaty in March 2021 that requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is an international accord designed to protect women’s rights and prevent domestic violence in societies and was opened to signature of member countries of the Council of Europe in 2011.
Since Turkey’s withdrawal from the treaty, Turkish authorities have been pressuring women’s rights organizations over their activist work.
Despite the pressure, organizations have said they will continue monitoring violence and femicide in the country.
