A man in northwestern Turkey’s Karabük province who was convicted of killing his first wife allegedly killed his estranged second wife and mother-in-law on Monday evening, Turkish media reported.
Hasan Küçükyılmaz, 59, fatally shot his wife Özlem Küçükyılmaz and her mother in the middle of the street. He later shot and killed himself. Küçükyılmaz had served a seven-year-prison sentence for murdering his first wife 16 years ago.
Although Küçükyılmaz’s second wife had reported her husband’s abuse on KADES, a mobile app developed by the police and launched in 2018 for women to report abuse and domestic violence, the authorities failed to protect her.
Küçükyılmaz was arrested and jailed after his wife filed her complaint but was released after a week
According to the latest research by Human Rights Watch, nearly 40 percent of women in Turkey are subject to physical and/or sexual violence. Despite the worrying numbers, the Turkish government has taken a conservative approach to combatting violence, and although Turkey has laws protecting women from domestic violence, there are problems with enforcing these laws and prosecuting the perpetrators.
In March 2021, Turkey withdrew from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention.
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.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sparked outrage in Turkey and the international community after he issued a decree in March 2021 that pulled the country out of the international treaty, which requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
Conservatives within the ruling party have argued the treaty’s principles of gender equality undermine traditional family values.
