Over 355,000 women in Turkey report cases of violence through state-run app in four years

Since its launch four years ago, the state-run mobile application KADES, which provides women with a hotline to report domestic violence, has been downloaded by 3.5 million women, Turkey's Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced. Accordingly, more than 355,000 women have reported cases of violence via the app since 2018.

Thursday July 28 2022 03:11 pm

A demonstrator holds a banner reading 'We Don't Want to Die' during a protest against Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.

Müzeyyen Yüce / DUVAR

Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has announced that some 3,478,641 women in Turkey have downloaded the state's Women Support Application (KADES) mobile application -- an app designed to counter violence against women.

Soylu released the figure in his answer to a question filed by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu with regards to applications made to judicial authorities by women subjected to violence. Soylu said that 355,366 women have reported cases of violence via KADES app in the last four years. This figure means that 243 women report violence daily on average in the country.

Soylu also stated that the implementation of 'electronic bracelet’ has been expanded across Turkey for police to take action before perpetrators approach the victims of violence.

Femicides have reached record levels in the past decade in Turkey. Some 280 women were killed by men in 2021, while another 217 women were found suspiciously dead, according to the We Will Stop Femicides Platform.

Some 163 women were murdered by men in the first six months of 2022, according to the Platform.

Despite this, Turkey has made moves in recent years to lessen protections for women. In July 2021, the country formally withdrew from the Istanbul Convention (the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence), a move that advocacy groups say was a major setback for women in the country. Many of those that perpetuate gender-based violence or killing are also let off with light sentences.

(English version by Alperen Şen)