16 women murdered in Turkey in April
In April, at least 16 women were murdered in Turkey by men close to them, and 14 others were found dead in suspicious ways, according to research by the platform "We will stop femicides" (KCDP).
In Turkey, at least 16 women were murdered by men close to them in April, and 14 other women died under suspicious circumstances. This is according to the latest femicide tally by the platform "We will stop femicides" (tr. Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız). The report by the Istanbul-based women's rights organization contains data on all murders of women recorded by the police or published in the media. The number of unreported cases is probably higher. The KCDP points out that numerous women have barely survived an attempted femicide.
"In eleven cases, the background of the killings could not be determined. Five women were murdered because they either wanted a divorce, refused to reconcile or marry their partners, or refused relationships. They were killed because they wanted to decide their own fate," the report said. The killers were husbands in eight cases and male acquaintances or relatives, such as brothers and fathers or former partners, in six others. In two femicides, the relationship between the perpetrator and victim could not be determined. KCDP's new report also reiterates that women are least safe in their own homes: seven of the women killed by men in Turkey in the previous month were murdered at home.
The fact that the motives in eleven murder cases are unclear is again attributed by the platform to the fact that patriarchal violence and femicide are made invisible in Turkey: "As long as it is not established by whom and why women are murdered, as long as there are no fair trials, as long as the perpetrators do not receive deterrent punishments and as long as no preventive measures are applied, the violence will continue." In addition, the organization warns that more and more femicide cases are being declared suicides. Suicide, it says, is increasingly a "cover for femicide," especially since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and the accompanying rise in patriarchal and domestic violence. The organization calls for greater suspicion on the part of authorities and the surrounding community when a femicide is classified as a suicide.
