The number of women who fell victim to domestic violence rose sharply in Turkey in 2024 when a record number of at least 394 women were killed by men, according to an annual report drafted by a leading women’s rights group.
The We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP) on Friday released its report on the number of women who were killed by men in 2024 as well as others who died under suspicious circumstances.
The platform’s secretary-general, Fidan Ataselim, unveiled the report at a news conference in İstanbul.
The report showed that since the KCDP began to keep track of women who were victims of domestic violence in Turkey in 2010, the country saw the highest number of women murders in 2024, with the killing of 394 women. In addition, 259 women died under suspicious circumstances last year.
In 2023 the number of femicides in the country was 315, while 248 women died under suspicious circumstances.
According to the report the only year when the number of femicides dropped was 2011, the year when Turkey signed an international treaty, known as the Istanbul Convention, aimed at combatting domestic violence.
Despite opposition from the international community and women’s rights groups, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided on Turkey’s withdrawal from this convention in March 2021. The treaty required governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
Turkey officially withdrew from the Istanbul Convention in July 2021.
Erdoğan claimed at the time that the treaty had been “hijacked by a group of people attempting to normalize homosexuality” which he said was “incompatible” with Turkey’s “social and family values.”
According to the report 71 percent of the women were killed by a close male relation, husband, boyfriend, son, ex-boyfriend, father or brother and that 57 percent of them were murdered in their homes.
Ataselim criticized the Family Ministry for issuing circulars that allegedly aim to protect the family but actually serve against the interests of the women and “lock them up” in their homes away from work and social life, adding that the women are killed in their homes, which have been defined as “sacred” and a “private sphere” in the ministry’s circulars.
She said 56 percent of the victims were killed with guns and weapons that can easily be purchased in Turkey. The most effective solution to stop the murder of women would be to change the gun laws, Ataselim said.
According to the platform, the main reason behind the increase in the number of femicides is the policies of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which protects violent and abusive men by granting them impunity. The platform cited examples of court decisions last year when offenders were given lenient sentences.
High-profile murders in 2024 included the brutal killings of İkbal Uzuner and Ayşenur Halil who were killed in İstanbul by 19-year-old Semih Çelik, who then took his own life. Çelik, reportedly connected to online “incel” communities known for promoting violence against women, had previous convictions and a history of mental health issues.
In another incident, the body of Narin Güran, an 8-year-old girl who had been missing for 19 days, was found in September in a bag in a river around one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the village where she lived with her family in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. Three family members including the girl’s mother, brother and uncle were convicted of murder last week but the motive of the murder still remains unknown.
Another tragic case surfaced when Rojin Kabaiş, a 21-year-old Kurdish university student, was found dead after being missing for 18 days.
The young woman’s body was found on the shore of Lake Van, nearly 18 kilometers from where she disappeared. According to her father, the authorities said it was a suicide and intended to shut the investigation down immediately. However, her family is adamant that their daughter didn’t die by suicide and demand a thorough investigation.
A 2022 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report criticized Turkey’s approach to addressing violence against women, pointing out that the government frames the issue in paternalistic terms, seeing women as needing protection rather than promoting gender equality. Emma Sinclair-Webb of HRW noted that this approach undermines efforts to effectively combat gender-based violence.