In the first three months of 2025, 67 women were murdered, while 83 women died under suspicious circumstances. According to data from the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP), 23 of the 33 women killed in January, 11 of the 16 women killed in February, and 15 of the 18 women killed in March were murdered in their own homes as a result of male violence. The very spaces where women should feel safest, their homes, have turned into sites of violence.

Güliz Kaya, Spokesperson of the Women’s Assembly of the Diyarbakır (Amed) Provincial Branch of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), stated in remarks to ANF that the growing number of femicides in Turkey stems directly from the ruling party’s policies. She said:

“The root cause of the mass killings of women lies in the policies of the government led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP). If we look back, we see that in 2011, the Ministry of Women was renamed the Ministry of Family and Social Policies. In the following years, Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, and Law No. 6284 has been rendered almost completely ineffective. Divorce has been made more difficult, and women’s right to alimony has been called into question. Then, in 2025, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared the year as the ‘Year of the Family.’

As women’s organizations and as the Women’s Assembly of the Diyarbakır Provincial Branch of the DEM Party, we insist on saying: 2025 will be a year of resistance for women. Since the day it came to power, the AKP government has carried out a policy of destruction, targeting women in particular, along with Kurds and the leftist-socialist segments of society. As a movement, our priority and perspective have always been based on the defense of women’s freedom. The liberation of women is at the very heart of our struggle. Unfortunately, the AKP government continues to pursue policies that seek to confine women entirely to the home.”

The policy of impunity must come to an end

Güliz Kaya emphasized that the rise in femicides is directly linked to the policy of impunity granted to perpetrators. She stressed, “Under the male-dominated mindset, there is a logic of ‘whatever I do, I get away with it.’ As long as policies of impunity continue, unfortunately, so will this women’s genocide. At the end of March, in Diyarbakır alone, two women were murdered by male relatives. One was killed by her husband, from whom she had suffered repeated abuse; the other was murdered by her own father. These killings have become so widespread that the only way out is through resistance and organization. We need laws that protect women. This policy of impunity must be brought to an end immediately, and men who commit these crimes must face the consequences they deserve.”

Self-defense and organization are the only way

Güliz Kaya stressed the importance of women organizing and acting collectively. She said: “On February 27, Mr. Abdullah Öcalan made a ‘Call for a Democratic Society.’ A democratic society means self-defense. And we will carry out our self-defense through our assemblies. By forming women’s assemblies in every city and district, organizing together with women, we will build our own autonomous power and continue to fight and organize without surrendering our rights and our lives to the control of any authority. Women who are subjected to violence should not be afraid and should not remain silent. We are with them.”