Panic button to protect Turkish women against domestic violence 'failed'

A much–hyped panic button system intended to protect women against violence has been a failure, Family and Social Policies Minister Ayşenur İslam has acknowledged, after the government conducted an impact analysis regarding the panic button system.

“Electronic surveillance of the perpetrator, rather than of the victim, is a much better system. There is already a system for that in Turkey, a probation service under which the perpetrator is monitored and kept away from the victim. We want the same system to be applied in cases of violence against women,” İslam said on Oct. 30.

She added that her ministry had applied to the Interior and Justice Ministries, and to the National Police Force, regarding the introduction of this system.

In a measure to fight violence against women, a pilot panic button project was initiated in pilot areas in the southern province of Adana and the northwestern province of Bursa in mid-2012. The buttons allow women facing violence to contact the police with a single press of the button. When the button is pressed, the location is transferred to the 155 Police Line through GPS technology, utilizing a private GSM operator SIM Card.

“The panic button, whose pilot area application started in Adana and Bursa, has been distributed to a total of 204 victims of violence up to now. But today there are only 15 active panic buttons in Adana and 43 in Bursa,” said İslam, adding that despite the panic buttons also being given to a number of men, there were no male users at the moment.

Ä°slam said the government had been tracking violence against women and murders of women for the past five years, and although figures showed no increase, no fall had been observed either.

“As a minister...