A report drafted by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) shows that at least 1,021 women were murdered in Turkey between Jan. 1, 2016 and Aug. 31, 2018.
The report was drafted by CHP deputy Necati Tığlı, a member of a parliamentary commission promoting gender equality.
Tığlı made use of records from women’s organizations as well as relevant news reports in the Turkish media while preparing his report.
According to the report, at least 870 women were subjected to violence in the same period while at least 342 others became victims of rape.
The report said there has been systematic and deliberate regression in the social status of women and their participation in social life since the 2000s.
“Our women, who were granted many rights during the establishment of the republic, have been systematically excluded from social, political and economic life during the rule of the AKP [Justice and Development Party],” said the report.
Women’s rights organizations have for years been trying to raise awareness about the increase in violence against women that has taken place in the last decade.
AKP leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long been accused by critics of seeking to erode the country’s secular principles and limiting the civil liberties of women.
Erdoğan has drawn the ire of feminist groups for declaring that every woman in Turkey should have three children and with proposals to limit abortion rights, the morning-after pill and caesarean sections.
He has also been accused of blatant sexism after declaring that women are not equal to men and claiming feminists in Turkey reject the idea of motherhood.
He said biological differences meant women and men could not serve the same functions, adding that manual work was unsuitable for the “delicate nature” of women.
Seen by critics as increasingly authoritarian, Erdoğan has also repeatedly lashed out personally at female journalists who displeased him.