400 Women Daily Subjected to Domestic Violence, 2 Killed Every 3 Days

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"In 2017, 133 thousand 809 women were subject to domestic violence" according to offical records, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said, in response to a written question by MP Ömer Fethi Gürer of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). And "in the first 7 months of 2018 96 thousand 417 women were recorded subjected to violence,” he added. Of these women, 393 had lost their lives.

The "Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence" (Istanbul Convention) tasks Turkey, one of the first signatories, with keeping records and statistics on domestic violence. Yet, until this day available statistics were generally released by womens' rights defenders NGOs and by the rights media such as bianet.org. But depending mainly on media coverages these statistics might not always be able to provide the most accurate data on the dimensions of domestic violence.

The figures issued upon CHP MP Gürer's written question by Soylu is groundbreaking as these comprise the first offical domestic violence statistics publicized by the ministry.

Gürer, in his written questionnaire directed the questions below to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu:

• How many women have been informed to be subjected to domestic violence, according to police records?
  
  
• Have these cases been followed?
  
  
• How many people in this context have reached your units and been recorded?
  
  
• How many women in accordance to their localities have been (yearly) subjected to domestic violence and have lost their lives,?

In 19 months 393 women were killed due to domestic violence

393 women out of the total 230 thousand 226 -subjected to domestic violence in 2017 and in the first 7 months of 2018- lost their lives, responded Minister Soylu. And added: "Persons faced with violence can [now] apply to Centers for Preventing and Following Violence (ŞÖNİM). Necessary precautions have been taken in accordance with the 'Implementation Regulation Related to the Law on Protecting The Family and Preventing Violence Against Women." And we continue to work according to the directives of the "National Action Plan To Combat Violence Against Women".

According to the data collected for our monthly "violence records" and already published on bianet.org  the number of women and girls who lost their lives in domestic violence in the same period is 420, approximately 8% higher than that reflected by the Interior Ministry data.

"Two women killed in every 3 days"

"According to the figures cited, daily 400 women are recorded subjected to violence," Gürer told as he shared the Interior Ministry data with the press. "These figures comprise only of those officially recorded. Altogether with women who have chosen to remain silent on their personal cases of violence we are faced with the brutal reality that the real dimensions of domestic violence reaches grivous figures." Gürer added.

"Considering the number of the women killed by domestic violence in the 19 months since 2017 we will see that in Turkey two women are killed in every 3 days," he concluded. (EMK/EK)