Forty women were murdered by men in Turkey last month, while 22 died under suspicious circumstances, according to data from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu).
Among the victims, 30 were killed in their own homes. Moreover, seven women were murdered because they wanted to separate from their partner.
Most of the women were killed by a close male relation, such as a boyfriend, husband, father or brother. According to the platform, 12 women were killed by their husbands, seven by partners, three by ex-husbands, three by ex-partners, three by their sons, two by brothers, two by relatives and eight by acquaintances.
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 Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by granting them impunity.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, 392 women were murdered in Turkey in 2022.
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.
Since Turkey’s withdrawal from the treaty, Turkish authorities have been pressuring women’s rights organizations for their activist work.
Despite the pressure, organizations have said they will continue monitoring violence and femicide in the country.
