According to the Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers Report of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), the number of applicants in Turkey with allegations of torture and ill-treatment increased by 11 percent last year, and the number of women who stated that they have been tortured increased by 10 percent compared to 2018.

According to the report, 205 women who said to have been tortured applied to the TIHV in 2020. The average age of torture fell from 36 to 33. The rate of those who stated that they were tortured and unemployed increased from 68 percent to 73 percent. The rate of those who said that they had faced sexual torture increased from 27 percent to 44 percent.

Comparing the 2018, 2019 and 2020 reports on torture and ill-treatment by the TIHV the results are as follows:

“* In 2020, 562 people applied to the TIHV, alleging that they were subjected to torture and ill-treatment. However, the number of applications in 2018 was 505.

205 women applied in 2020. The number of female applicants who applied in 2018 was 186. The average age of people who applied to treatment centers due to torture in 2020 was 33. This rate was observed as 36 percent in 2019. In 2018, the average age was calculated as 35.

* It was determined that 382 of the applicants, i.e. 73.6 percent, were unemployed in 2020. In 2018, 68 percent of those who claimed to be tortured were unemployed. Of the 562 applicants, 283, i.e. 50 percent, were from the police departments; 73 of them, that is, 13 percent, knocked on the door of the TIHV on the grounds that they were subjected to torture in official detention centers such as police stations.”

In addition, 189 people, 34 percent of the applicants, also said that they were tortured in the vehicles of law enforcement officers. In 2020, 229, i.e. 41 percent, of the applicants to the TIHV in open spaces and during the demonstration; 110 of them, i.e. 20 percent, said that they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in places such as home and workplace.

Of the 562 applicants, 90 percent said they had been insulted. In 2018, this rate was 80 percent. The rate of those who said that they were faced with physical intervention was 73 percent. The rate of those who claim to have been sexually tortured in any way has increased from 27 percent to 44 percent in the last two years.