Thirty-four women, including some as young as 12, were killed by men across Turkey in October, according to a report by the “We Will Stop Femicide Platform,” a women’s rights organization that monitors violence against women.
The report said 26 percent were murdered for a personal life choice, such as taking a job, 6 percent for seeking a divorce and 3 percent for refusing to reunite with their former partner. Twenty-nine percent of the women were killed by their own husbands.
“Women are tortured. They are killed in front of their children or with them. Unexpected death cases are also increasing, while some barbaric practices have been used to kill women such as even placing explosives in houses. … All of these are symptoms of increasing misogyny,” a previous report by the organization said.
The report also showed that 44 percent of the women were between 36 and 65 years of age, 3 percent were older than 66 and 23 percent were between 25 and 35 years old. Three percent were between 12 and 14 years of age.
Three percent of the women killed were under state protection at the time, while for 6 percent courts had issued restraining orders against potential assailants. The protection provided by the government was insufficient, according to the organization.
At least 14 women were subjected to sexual violence in October, the women’s rights group also said in the report, adding that the actual figure could be much higher.
In 2017, a total of 409 women were killed and 387 children sexually abused in Turkey, according to data compiled by the same group.
However, 393 women in Turkey were killed in incidents of domestic violence over the last 19 months, according to the Interior Ministry. The ministry indicated that 133,809 women reported that they were subjected to domestic violence in 2017. The number for the first seven months of 2018 is 96,417.
“According to the data, 400 women were subjected to violence every day, while two women were murdered every three days because of it. These are just the reported cases. We believe the actual situation is even worse,” Turkish opposition deputy Ömer Fethi Gürer said in a statement.
Women’s rights organizations in Turkey have sought to raise awareness about the increase in violence against women over the last decade. According to local reports, from 2003 to 2010, Turkey witnessed a 1,400 percent increase in violence against women. (SCF with Ahval)
