Buse Ateş Suna, who was allegedly beaten by her husband, died after remaining in a coma for two months, the Yeni Yaşam news website reported.
The attack occurred in February in Tekirdağ, a city in western Turkey. Enes Suna allegedly beat his wife during an argument.
Buse Ateş Suna was hospitalized after the incident and was in a coma for two months, dying on April 14.
Following her death, Enes Suna was arrested by gendarmes and has been detained pending trial.
Suna’s death highlights a broader issue in Turkey. Femicides and violence against women are chronic problems in the country, where women are killed, raped or beaten almost every day.
In March, 24 women were murdered by men, and 32 more died under suspicious circumstances.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, at least 315 women were murdered by men and 248 women died under suspicious circumstances throughout 2023.
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.
Turkish courts have repeatedly drawn criticism due to their tendency to hand down lenient sentences to offenders, claiming that the crime was “motivated by passion” or by interpreting victims’ silence as consent.
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 the signature of the Council of Europe member countries in 2011.
Erdoğan’s allies have been calling for further rollbacks, urging the repeal of a domestic law that stipulates protection mechanisms for women who either have suffered or are at risk of suffering violence.
