A total of 31 women in Turkey were murdered by men last month, while 28 died under suspicious circumstances, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing data from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu).
Among the victims, six had restraining orders against their killers. Moreover, 15 were murdered by an ex-partner or because they wanted to separate from their current partner. Most of the women were killed by a close male relation, such as a boyfriend, husband, father or brother.
An additional 72 women reported being victims of gender-based violence, while 13 reported they were forced into prostitution.
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, 392 women were murdered in Turkey in 2022.
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 signature of member countries of the Council of Europe in 2011.
Since Turkey’s withdrawal from the treaty, Turkish authorities have been pressuring women’s rights organizations for their activist work.
Despite the pressure organizations have said they would continue monitoring violence and femicide in the country.