Thirty-one women were killed by men in Turkey in June, while 31 others were found dead under suspicious circumstances, according to a monthly report by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP).
Fifteen of the women were killed by their husbands, one by a former husband, one by a current partner, three by their fathers, one by another relative and one by her son, the report stated.
The platform said four women were killed over decisions concerning their own lives, such as seeking a divorce, while two were killed for economic reasons. The motives could not be determined in the remaining 25 cases. Seventeen of the victims were murdered in their own homes.
In Bursa 29-year-old Müjde Güngür was stabbed to death by her husband in front of the couple’s 10-year-old child after telling him she wanted a divorce.
Saltan Gezgiç was thrown from a moving vehicle by her husband and killed in Muğla.
In İzmir 43-year-old Ayfer Karakayışlı was killed after her former husband attacked her with acid. Her 13-year-old daughter was also seriously injured in the attack.
Fifty-year-old Yüksel Sarıkaya was shot in the street in Konya by her husband while divorce proceedings were underway. She later died in the hospital from her injuries.
The platform criticized the Turkish Constitutional Court’s decision on indefinite post-divorce alimony, warning that limiting such payments could undermine women’s economic independence and make it harder for them to leave abusive marriages.
The Constitutional Court’s June 4 ruling annulled a Civil Code provision that allowed judges to grant poverty alimony for an indefinite period after divorce. Women’s rights advocates criticized the ruling, describing it as part of a broader rollback of protections for women in Turkey. Following the ruling Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said the government would submit a new regulation to parliament.
Violence against women remains a pervasive problem in Turkey, where women are frequently killed, raped or subjected to physical abuse, according to women’s rights groups and monitoring organizations.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, at least 294 women were murdered by men in 2025.
Critics say policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government contribute to the problem by allowing perpetrators to avoid accountability. Such criticism intensified after Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, formally known as the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
The convention is an international accord that requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
Despite opposition from the international community and women’s rights groups, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued a decree in March 2021 that pulled the country out of the international treaty.
