94 women killed despite state protection in Turkey in last five years

Some 94 women have been killed while under state protection between 2015 and 2019, the Turkish Interior Ministry said. The ministry also said that over 1 million incidents of violence against women occurred between 2014 and 2019, leading to the death of 1,890 women.

Duvar English

Some 94 women have been killed while under state protection between 2015 and 2019, the Turkish Interior Ministry said, daily Cumhuriyet reported on Dec. 20.

The women had applied for state protection after being exposed to various threats by men.

The ministry released the data in response to a parliamentary question filed by main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Fethi Gürer.

The ministry also said that a total of 1,015,337 incidents of violence against women had occurred between 2014 and 2019, leading to the death of 1,890 women (including those who had not been placed under state protection).

The figures revealed that there has been an increase in the number of such incidents over the years. The number of domestic-violence related incidents was recorded as 146,756 in 2014, while this figure spiked to 219,801 in 2018. In the first 10 months of this year, a total of 157,150 incidents of violence against women occurred.

The ministry's data on the number of femicides also revealed the extent of the problem, with 306 women killed in 2014, 360 in 2015, 304 in 2016, 353 in 2017, 279 in 2018 and 288 in the first ten months of 2019.

CHP deputy Gürer commented on the issue saying that violence against women did not just consist of physical- and sexual-abuse but also emotional- and financial-abuse. “In this sense, it is a reality that there are many regulations that need to be taken [regarding this issue],” he said.