Seventy-nine women have been killed in incidents of domestic violence across Turkey in the first five months of this year, according to data from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP).
In protest of the high number of women killed in domestic settings, the KCDP covered a government “Year of the Family” display with stickers bearing the names and photos of victims.
The Turkish government has declared 2025 the Year of the Family, with the Ministry of Family and Social Services organizing events throughout the month to promote traditional family values and child welfare.
However, women rights activists have said the program reinforces traditional domestic roles rather than addressing challenges women face at home and in the workplace. Canan Güllü, president of the Federation of Women’s Associations of Turkey, said the program was designed to encourage women to give birth instead of focusing on their protection.
“2025 should not have been declared the Year of the Family, but the Year of Preventing Femicide,” she said. “Only such a decision would have inspired women’s confidence because, basically, women want their basic right to life to be protected. In a country where so many women are murdered, the top priority should be to protect this right. “
Fidan Ataselim, secretary-general of the KCDP, criticized the government’s Year of the Family initiative, arguing that it prioritized control of women over genuine protection.
“While officials promote morality and privacy, they ignore the economic and social realities that endanger women’s lives,” she said. Ataselim pointed to recent femicides, saying these tragedies are being obscured by moral rhetoric.
Referring to statements by government officials who equate media coverage of violence with moral decay, Ataselim said the real issue lies in the institutional failure to protect women and youth.
“If the problem is the visibility of violence, not the violence itself, then we’re in serious trouble,” she said, emphasizing that many victims were forced to document and share their abuse publicly because they could not trust state institutions to respond.
Despite women’s pleas for protection from gender-based violence, many perpetrators of violence and femicide are afforded impunity by the courts, which is deeply rooted in the country’s legal, cultural and political landscape and often obstructs justice for victims. Turkish courts are often accused of interpreting laws leniently in cases of gender-based violence. They also reduce sentences for men based on “good conduct” in the courtroom, which is at the discretion of the judge.
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.
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 an international treaty 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 member countries of the Council of Europe in 2011.
