On 8 March 2025, the Presidency announced in the Official Gazette the establishment of the Women's Empowerment Coordination Board within the framework of the 2024-2028 Women's Empowerment Strategy Document and Action Plan. The board was created to ensure that women have equal access to rights and opportunities. However, less than a week after its formation, between March 10 and 11, five women were murdered within 24 hours by men they had divorced, were in the process of divorcing, or were still married to. Another woman was injured despite having a restraining order in place.

Labour Party (EMEP) MP for Antep, Sevda Karaca, criticized the government's failure to take concrete steps despite the rise in violence against women. She questioned the stark contrast between official statements and the reality of femicides and said, “If everything is as wonderful as the bureaucrats and ministry officials describe in commission meetings, then how is it that five women are murdered in plain sight in a single day?”

Women are imprisoned in violent homes

Karaca recalled that five women were murdered within 24 hours and pointed out that even law enforcement officials had confirmed, with statistics, who the primary perpetrators were. She said: "Just a few days ago, within just 24 hours, five women were murdered by men they had divorced, were in the process of divorcing, or were still married to. One woman was injured despite having a restraining order.

Every day, women are killed by those closest to them: their husbands, fathers, and brothers. This was confirmed by a representative of the Police Department at the parliamentary commission that was supposedly established to prevent violence against women. He said, 'Sixty-five percent of women are murdered inside their own homes, and 50 percent are killed by their husbands.' So, is this commission actually doing any real work to prevent violence? No! Ministers, general directors, and provincial officials come, deliver speeches about how well they are working, and then leave. This commission has held 21 meetings—has the state managed to protect even 21 women in this time? If everything is as wonderful as bureaucrats and ministry officials claim, how is it that five women are murdered in broad daylight in a single day?

The government not only refuses to take even the simplest measures to prevent domestic violence but also mocks women by declaring a ‘Year of the Family’ while enforcing policies that trap them in cycles of abuse. This administration seeks to turn women into cheap labor and mere reproductive machines, forcing them into precarious, unregulated, and insecure working conditions. It drives them into poverty and hunger, making them even more vulnerable to violence. It deliberately dismantles mechanisms meant to prevent violence and, with a single decree, withdrew from the Istanbul Convention. This government’s goal is not to prevent violence, it is to render it invisible within the family."

A budget that fails women

Karaca also criticized the publication of the Women's Empowerment Coordination Board's establishment in the Official Gazette on 8 March, stating that the government enjoys making grand statements on historically significant days: "They love making big speeches on days like March 8 and November 25, which symbolize the rights women have won through their historical struggles. On 8 March, Erdoğan issued yet another decree, announcing the establishment of the 'Women's Empowerment Coordination Board.' Let us not forget that the very Ministry of Family, which presented this as good news, allocated an insignificant amount per woman in the 2025 budget for women’s empowerment. How can a government that does not even allocate the cost of a single bandage per woman claim to be empowering them?

The Minister of Family says, 'We are the ones who brought gender equality into the Constitution and laws.' Yet every day, they contradict themselves with new actions. Just recently, the Minister of National Education criminalized gender education in schools, calling it 'an act that could cause public outrage and is completely incompatible with society’s fundamental values.' This is how deeply they despise equality."

The government, the perpetrator of femicides

MP Sevda Karaca accused the government of being the driving force behind policies that fuel discrimination and pointed to it as the main perpetrator of femicides. She also recalled that they had submitted a parliamentary inquiry to the ministry. She stated: "The same mentality that subjects women to all forms of discrimination, pulls girls out of school and pushes them into early marriages, and deepens gender inequality has neither the intention nor the power to prevent violence against women. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) is the primary perpetrator of femicides through policies that drown women in inequality.

With two parliamentary inquiries, we aimed to expose this complicity: one questioning the government’s inaction as five women were murdered in 24 hours, and another highlighting how religious sects, congregations, and nationalist youth organizations are allowed to roam freely in schools while teachers who try to educate students on gender equality are criminalized. We refuse to tolerate a single more femicide, a single more empty promise, or the shameless hypocrisy of those who boast about ‘great achievements for women’ while systematically stripping away our rights to equality."