MALE VIOLENCE MONITORING REPORT MAY 2019
Men Kill 27 Women in May
Infographic: Yağmur Karagöz
Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish
According to the news compiled by bianet from local and national newspapers, news websites and agencies, men killed at least 27 women in May 2019. One of the women killed in this month was a transwoman. Men also inflicted violence on 53 women.
In the first five months of this year, men killed 126 women.
In the first five months of 2018, men killed at least 97 women and seven children, raped 30 women, harassed 89 women, forced 280 women to sex work, sexually abused 177 girls and injured 185 women.
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Having raped at least three women in May 2019, men also forced 64 women to sex work. They also sexually abused at least 39 children and harassed 28 women.
In May, at least six women suspiciously died (in Ankara, Rize, Konya, Ordu, Tekirdağ and Denizli).
Men also led two women to commit suicide (in Sakarya and Denizli). The suicides of at least four women (in Diyarbakır, Niğde, İzmir and Elazığ) were reported in the news as "suspicious".
The deceased bodies of one woman in İstanbul and one woman in Şırnak were also found in this month. (Both of these femicides have been reported in the news as unidentified murders; while the woman in İstanbul was found burned in her car, the name of the woman in Şırnak was Aslıhan U.)
Murder
According to news compiled by bianet from local and national newspapers, news websites and agencies, men killed at least 27 women in May 2019. Last May, men killed 25 women.
One of the women murdered in this month was a transwoman (in Antalya) and at least three women were killed despite protection orders.
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Women killed by men in May Anneliese I.G., Ayşe Özlem B., Ayşe Zeynep P., Ayşenur E., Billur C., Dilek Z., Esra T., Fatma Y., Feride G., Fındık Ş. Gizem T., Gökçe S., Gülşen G., Hatice D., Hüsniye I., Merve Ü., Müzeyyen B.I., Nergis Y., Özgü O., Sakine O., Seher Ö., Sevdiye T., Songül D., Sultan S., Ulviye D., Zehra Ç., Zeynep K. |
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Provinces where women were killed Afyon (1), Antalya (2), Aydın (2), Bartın (1), Bingöl (1), Dersim (1), Diyarbakır (2), Iğdır (1), İstanbul (3), İzmir (2), Kastamonu (1), Kayseri (1), Kocaeli (1), Kütahya (1), Maraş (1), Niğde (1), Osmaniye (1), Sakarya (1), Samsun (1), Tekirdağ (1), Uşak (1). |
Men killed at least three women because they wanted divorce/separation, three women on the pretext of jealousy, one woman in a dispute over money, one woman because she wanted to go to bazaar and one woman because she did not take her child to park. Men also killed one woman because her family did not let them get married. The pretexts of 17 femicides were not reported.
At least 14 women were killed by their husbands/ex-husbands, six women by their boyfriends, two women by their sons, one woman by her father-in-law and one woman by her nephew. The degrees of acquaintance in three femicides were not reported in the press.
Men killed 15 women at home and five women in public places (namely, one woman in an apartment, one in a pastureland, two on the street and one in her workplace). The crime scenes of seven femicides were not reported in the news.
Men killed 15 women with firearms such as pistols and shotguns and seven women with sharp objects such as axes and knives. Men also strangulated three women and threw one woman from a building. Men arsoned the house of one woman after killing her. It was not reported in the press how one woman was murdered.
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Judicial process There were 32 male perpetrators. While nine of them were arrested, 15 perpetrators were reported in the news as "detained", one perpetrator as "caught" and one perpetrator as "escaped". While six men committed suicide, four of them died. |
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The femicides previously committed by men, but reported in the press in May 2019 were as follows: * On April 30, Gülhanım D. was stabbed to death by her ex-husband V.Y. as she would marry someone else. While the woman lost her life at hospital, V.Y. was arrested. * In Kayseri, a man named H.B. strangled his girlfriend Saliha T. to death because she said she was pregnant. The incident occured in 2006 and a missing notice was issued for her back then. It was in May 2019 when it was understood that T. was killed by H.B. The man was referred to courthouse. * In Yalova, paternal aunt V.M. (56) and her husband M.M. (71) strangled their niece S.Ç. to death as she got pregnant out of wedlock. The instigator of the femicide was father S.K. (71). The incident which took place in 1994 was reported in the press in May after the perpetrators were identified. S.K., V.M., M.M. and cousin T.M. (51) were arrested. |
Child murder - violence against children
Men killed at least three children in May. All of these three children were with their mothers while their fathers inflicted violence on them. Moreover, in Adana, D.A. (22) battered his sister/brother B.A. (7) at their home. One man drove his car towards a child, whom he also battered afterwards.
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Children killed by men in May A.D., Efkan B., K.K |
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Provinces where children were killed Bingöl (1), İzmir (2) |
Rape
Men raped at least three women in May. Last May, this figure was four.
One woman was raped by the service manager at her workplace and one woman by her boyfriend. The degree of acquaintance in the other incident was not reported in the news.
Men raped one woman at home and one woman at workplace while the scene of incident in the other case was not reported in the press. One of the rape incidents was revealed after the woman's attempted suicide.
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Provinces where women were raped in May Denizli (1), İzmir (1), Tekirdağ (1). |
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Judicial process There were three male perpetrators who raped women in May. While two of them were detained, an investigation was launched against the other. |
Forced sex work
In May 2019, men forced at least 64 women to sex work. Last May, this figure was 51. The 61 of 64 women forced to do sex work in May 2019 were not citizens of Turkey.
Men persuaded at least 40 women to come to Turkey by promising them jobs. As they arrived in Turkey, they took their passports and forced them to sex work.
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Judicial process There were 50 perpetrators, among whom were also women. 27 perpetrators were arrested and five perpetrators were reported in the news as "taken into custody" or "referred to courthouse". 14 perpetrators were released on probation. Four perpetrators, one of whom had a criminal record on the same charge, were released. |
Harassment
According to the reports bianet compiled from local and national newspapers, online news outlets and agencies, men harassed at least 28 women in May. This number was 14 in the same month last year. One of them was disabled.
20 women were harassed by men whom they do not know, one by a bus driver, one by prison wardens, two by a man who introduced himself as a prophet, two by colleagues, one by a police officer and one by a judge.
Men harassed at least 19 women physically and verbally, showed their sexual organs at least two of them. They harassed one woman by shooting photos of her, two women by forcing them to marry through threats, three women by sending messages with sexual content, one woman by interfering with her skirt's length.
Men harassed 18 women in public places, namely a shopping mall, a hospital, a prison, yard of a university. Men harassed two women in homes and two women through phone messages. Where did six incidents of harassment take place was not covered by the media.
| Provinces where men harassed women
Adana (1), Ankara (8), Antalya (1), Antep (1), Bursa (1), Diyarbakır (1), Erzurum (1), İstanbul (5), Mersin (1), Nevşehir(1), Sakarya (3), Samsun (2), Şırnak (1). The province where an incident of harassment took place was not covered by the media. |
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Judicial process There were 22 perpetrator men. Five of them were detained. One was arrested on a different offense. One perpetrator was killed by the father of the man whom he harassed and then was arrested. Any action has not been taken for at least two perpetrators who are public officers. |
Child Abuse
Men abused at least 39 children in May. This number was 53 in the same month last year.
One child went missing in Samsun, he was abused by his uncle according to claims. One child in Mardin and one child in Kars lost their lives suspiciously.
Ten children were abused by men whom they do not know, nine by imams, seven by a canteen worker at a school, five by shop owners and at least two by their teachers.
One incident of sexual abuse was revealed by a school counselor and at least three by the families of the children. At least three incidents of abuse were disclosed because the children resisted to harassers.
| Judicial process
There were 19 perpetrators. Ten of them were arrested (One was arrested for robbery). Eight perpetrators were detained. In one case, the family of the harassed child did not make a complaint against the perpetrator. |
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Provinces where men sexually abused children Antep (1), Adıyaman (3), Antalya (2), Aydın (1), Denizli (3), Düzce (1), Edirne (1) Giresun (1), İstanbul (1), İzmir (1), Kırklareli (7), Manisa ( 3), Osmaniye (1), Şırnak (1),Tekirdağ (1), Urfa (2), Van (9). |
Violence/Injury
Men have used violence against at least 53 women in May. This number was 44 in the same month last year.
In İzmir and Adana, male violence also caused other types of violence. In İstanbul, one man applied psychological violence against her wife. Men used violence against at least two children who were with the women when the incidents took place.
At least 28 women were battered by their husbands/ex-husbands/men whom they married in an unofficial religious ceremony, 11 women were battered by their boyfriends or ex-boyfriends. Women did not know five of the men they battered them. At least five of the men were reported as "known by the woman." One woman was battered by a friend of hers, one by the landowner of her workplace, one by a neighbor. Identity of the man who harassed at least one woman was not revealed.
Men battered two women because they rejected to be their girlfriend, at least five women because they wanted to break up, two women because of jealousy, and one woman on the excuse of she made noise.
Men beat more than half of the women. They stabbed at least two women and wounded three with firearms. Men also pushed two women out of their cars.
| Judicial process
Six perpetrators were arrested. Eight perpetrators were released after questioning. Seven perpetrators were detained. Women did not file a complaint against two perpetrators. Five perpetrators were reported by the media as "at large." In three cases in the provinces of İstanbul, Adana and Samsun, women were subjected to enforcement rather than men. Not any action was taken against one perpetrator. A lawsuit was filed against one perpetrator for "threat" and "defamation." Investigations are continuing against two perpetrators. Two perpetrators were killed by people from the families of the harassed women. Judicial processes of three perpetrators were not covered by the media. |
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Explanation The bianet Male Violence Monitoring Report only covers women who lost their lives as a result of male violence. We do not include any violence cases or crimes that are not gender-based. Throughout the year, we keep track of unidentified murders and suspicious deaths of women in separate monthly tallies but do not add them to the number presented in the headline.
At the end of the year, we examine these cases of unidentified murders and suspicious deaths to determine whether the crimes were gender-based. We add the gender-based incidents into the report.
We do not include any murders in the reports that are committed by people with psychological disorders (such as murders committed by people with schizophrenia).
We include suicide or suicide attempt incidents in the tally only if the woman was subjected to violence/ systematic violence in her past. We cover these suicide incidents in a separate category and do not add suicide cases to the number presented in the headline.
In addition, we don't include femicide cases that occur in a mass murder in which the woman was not directly targeted under the condition that the debated incident is not gender based either.
Occupations of the offenders only included in the reports when the incident of violence is related to the occupation of the offender. For example, "Woman was murdered at home by his husband, who is a professional soldier."
We add the violence committed on children by men, to make the extent of violence visible. |
(EMK/SD/VK)