A total of 25 women were murdered in Turkey in March, while 19 women died under suspicious circumstances, the Duvar news website reported.
Among those who were killed, six had obtained restraining orders against the men who murdered them. Most the women were killed by their partners, ex-partners or closely related men.
More than half of the women were killed inside their homes or in their workplaces.
Fifty-one women reportedly either filed a complaint or were hospitalized due to domestic violence. Several women were subjected to violence for wanting to separate from their partners; however, in most cases the reason for the violence was not disclosed.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Ankara-based Metropoll, domestic violence in the biggest problem faced by women in Turkey.
Femicides and violence against women are serious problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten every day. 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 granting them impunity.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu), 280 women were murdered in Turkey in 2021.
In a move that attracted national and international outrage, Turkish 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.
