Twenty-one women were murdered by men in Turkey in May and another 20 died under suspicious circumstances, the We Will Stop Femicide Platform reported.
Of the 21 women who were murdered, 14 were killed by their husbands or boyfriends and five by other relatives.
At least seven of the victims were killed over their decisions concerning their own lives, such as asking for a divorce, rejecting reconciliation with a romantic partner or declining a marriage proposal or romantic relationship.
On May 1 Aysun Candan, 20, was killed in İzmir by her ex-boyfriend, H.A.
Neriman Onur, 54, was shot and killed in Samsun on May 7 by her ex-husband.
On May 13 Nura Zemzem, 40, was strangled to death by her son in Osmaniye.
Femicide and violence against women are chronic problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten almost every day.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, at least 394 women were murdered by men in 2024.
Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by affording them impunity.
Turkish courts have repeatedly attracted criticism due to their tendency to hand down lenient sentences to offenders, claiming that the crime was merely “motivated by passion” or by interpreting victims’ silence as consent.
In a move that attracted national and international outrage, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used a presidential decree to withdraw the country from 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 the signature of Council of Europe member states in 2011. Turkey had been a party to the convention until 2021.
Erdoğan’s allies have also been calling for further rollbacks, urging the repeal of a domestic law that stipulates protection mechanisms for women who either have suffered or are at risk of suffering violence.
