Violence against women in Turkey increases both in number and brutality

"What we call femicide is actually murder of women who revolt against abuse and push for independence," says the We Will Stop Femicides Platform (WSF). But their husbands and male family members respond to this new-found independence with more violence, while protection mechanisms fail to protect the victims In Turkey, the number of women who are subjected to violence and murder has increased, but so has the brutality of the violence, according to an Izmir-based jurist. 

Nuriye Kadan, who heads Izmir Bar Association's Women's Rights and Legal Support Office, says that the last decade has not only seen the increase in the numbers of women subject to violence, but that the violence itself has become more intense and barbaric, "bordering on torture."

"A woman who came to us for legal protection last year had been stabbed 42 times by her husband," Kadan told Hurriyet Daily News (HDN) on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. "These women are not just killed; they are mutilated and subjected to additional violence before and after the murder. The dose of violence borders on torture. The so-called third page news on women's murders include attempts to burn the body, cut it into pieces or decapitation."

The examples are many. In Gaziantep, a woman was first shot dead by her boyfriend on Nov. 15. He then slit her throat with her 11-year-old child watching.

The murder, decapitation and dismemberment of 17-year-old Münevver Karabulut in 2009 brought together the WSF, one of the strongest advocacy groups that combine activism on the streets with bill proposals and legal support. The platform has established branches in 21 Turkish cities, including Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir in last five years....