Only 10 women’s shelters opened in Turkey in 5 years

* Photo: Evrim Kepenek / bianet - "We will live in spite of you"

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

Republican People's Party (CHP) Nigde MP Ömer Fethi Gürer's Parliamentary question raising concerns about the mounting male violence has been answered by the Ministry of Family and Social Services.

The Minister's answer to the main opposition MP has revealed that only 10 women's shelters have been opened in Turkey in 5 years.

In his Parliamentary question, CHP's Gürer asked:

* How many women's guest houses have been opened by the Ministry and municipalities in the last five years? What is their capacity?

* As of 2020, how many women and mother-children live in guest houses? How many guest houses have been in use, but do not have any guests?

* In 2020, how many applications were made to the Alo 183 Social Support Hotline? The requests of how many women were met?

* Of the women who applied to the Alo 183 Social Support Hotline, how many women requested psychological, legal and economic consultation?

* How many women have been under the Ministry's protection as of May 2021 included?

22,087 women and 9,648 women in shelters

Answering the Parliamentary question, Minister of Family and Social Services Derya Yanık has stated that 7 "guest houses" with a capacity of 139 people have been opened by the Ministry and 3 "guest houses" with a capacity of 49 people opened by municipalities since 2016.

Announcing that a total of 55,882 people (35,311 women and 20,551 children) were offered services in women's shelters across Turkey in 2020, Minister Yanık has said, "As of May 2021, 22,087 women and 9,648 children (31,735 people in total) were offered services."

According to Yanık's answer, the applications to the 183 Social Support Hotline are directed to the Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers (ŞÖNİM) with the aim of offering the necessary consultancy and guidance services. Minister Yanık has indicated that the related people are provided with the necessary consultancy services by the ŞÖNİMs.

The Minister of Family and Social Services has indicated that "the current data on the incidents of violence, legal processes and their results and their distribution by provinces are recorded by the Justice Ministry's National Judiciary Informatics System (UYAP), the Ministry of Interior's POL-NET System and the Gendarmerie General Command's data system."

Commenting on the issue, CHP Niğde MP Ömer Fethi Gürer has underlined that the causes underlying the increase in the incidents of violence against women in recent years need to be examined in their all aspects, noting that it is one of the most important problems of Turkey.

Gürer has emphasized that while the withdrawal of the country from the İstanbul Convention has led to despair in terms of finding a solution for the problem, the new legal arrangements to minimize the incidents of violence must be adopted urgently. (EMK/SD)