Turkey witnessed the murder of at least 25 women at the hands of men in March, according to a report drafted by the Bianet news website.
According to Bianet’s “Male Violence Monitoring Report 2022,” which is based on reports from national and local newspapers as well as news websites and agencies, 70 women were murdered by men in the first three months of 2022.
Six of the women killed in March were murdered despite “protection” or a restraining order from the Turkish judicial authorities.
The “pretexts” for the murder of the 18 women were not reported in the press, while seven women were killed because they wanted to break up, and two others were killed due to financial problems.
Nineteen of the women who died in March were murdered by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends, while two were killed by their sons, one was killed by her father and one by a relative. The degree of acquaintance between two women and the four men who killed them was not reported in the news.
Fifteen of the women were murdered in their homes, while 10 others were killed elsewhere.
Men killed 10 of the women with guns, nine with knives, one by throwing her from the balcony and five by strangulation.
In addition, three children were killed, three women were raped, 51 women were subjected to acts of violence and 12 children were victims of sexual harassment, while 93 women were forced into prostitution by men in March, according to the report.
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.
According to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu), 280 women were murdered in Turkey in 2021.
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 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 signature of member countries of the Council of Europe in 2011.