Turkey’s domestic violence reporting app has been downloaded 9.4 million times, with nearly 100,000 emergency reports submitted since its launch in 2018, Turkish Minute reported.
The Women’s Emergency Support Application, known as KADES, was developed by the Interior Ministry to allow women to report domestic violence and request immediate assistance from law enforcement.
A total of 94,159 reports have been filed through the app since 2018, Türkiye Gazetesi reported, citing ministry data. Of those, 60,754 required interventions by police or gendarmes, while 33,405 were classified as false or accidental notifications.
Government officials say the system enables rapid response, with law enforcement typically arriving within minutes after a report is submitted.
Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi said the app operates round the clock and allows users to share their location instantly in emergencies.
“Ensuring that women feel safe is our priority,” Çiftçi said, adding that users can alert authorities “with a single touch” and receive help within minutes.
The app is designed to be accessible to a wide range of users, including foreign nationals, who can register with passport information, and hearing-impaired individuals through additional features.
Despite the app’s widespread use, violence against women remains a persistent problem in Turkey.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu), which monitors domestic violence in Turkey, Turkish men killed at least 294 women in acts of domestic violence in 2025, while 297 others died under suspicious circumstances.
The platform states that the only year when the number of femicides dropped was 2011, the year Turkey signed an international treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention, aimed at combatting domestic violence.
Despite opposition from the international community and women’s rights groups, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided on Turkey’s withdrawal from the convention in March 2021. The treaty required governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
Turkey officially withdrew from the Istanbul Convention in July 2021.
Erdoğan claimed at the time that the treaty had been “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality” which he said was “incompatible” with Turkey’s “social and family values.”
A 2022 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report criticized Turkey’s approach to addressing violence against women, pointing out that the government frames the issue in paternalistic terms, seeing women as needing protection rather than promoting gender equality. Emma Sinclair-Webb of HRW noted that this approach undermines efforts to effectively combat gender-based violence.
