A total of 338 women in Turkey were murdered by men in the past 12 months, while 248 died under suspicious circumstances, the ANKA news agency reported on Friday, citing data from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform.
The platform on Friday released a report on the occasion of International Women’s Day, saying that 338 women were murdered by men between March 8, 2023 and March 8, 2024.
According to the report, most of the women were killed by a close male relation: a husband (134), boyfriend (47), son (21), ex-boyfriend (17), father (11) or brother (6).
The most common “motivation” for the murders was their refusal to marry or have a relationship with their killers, while other motives included “financial reasons” and “hate.”
The report also said 212 women were killed at home and 67 were murdered on the street.
Twelve women were killed despite protection orders, the platform said, adding that 36 had initiated legal proceedings to divorce the perpetrators and 19 had filed complaints with the police and prosecutor’s office against the perpetrators.
While 200 women were killed with a gun, 96 were stabbed to death, 20 were strangled, 12 were beaten to death, two died by fire and two were thrown from a height, according to the report.
Lawyer Esin İzel Uysal from the platform said there was a significant increase in femicides after Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. She added that the authorities have clearly expressed that they will not lift a finger in the face of violations of women’s rights.
Despite opposition from the international community and women’s rights groups, Turkey officially withdrew from the Istanbul Convention in July 2021, which requires governments to adopt legislation prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence and similar abuse as well as marital rape and female genital mutilation.
President and leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Recep Tayyip 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.”
Femicides and violence against women are chronic problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten almost every day. Many critics say the main reason behind the situation is the policies of the AKP government, which protects violent and abusive men by granting them impunity.
Turkish courts have repeatedly drawn criticism due to their tendency to hand down lenient sentences to offenders, claiming that the crime was “motivated by passion” or by interpreting victims’ silence as consent.