TURKEY tr-national

Ankara women's shelter doing best to reduce domestic violence

ISTANBUL – Daily News with Wires | 3/4/2011 12:00:00 AM |

A newly established women’s shelter in Ankara is working hard to offer as much support as possible to women who are at risk of domestic violence, according to local district officials.

“We give a hand to the women and children knocking on our door at midnight,” said Deputy Mayor Celal Semiz. “Along with social and psychological support to women, our center also gives information on women’s judicial rights through a female lawyer directing them to the Ankara Bar Association.”

The Women’s Shelter House in the district of Keçiören was opened Dec. 13, 2010, and is a joint project between the Interior Minister and the European Union, according to Mayor Mustafa Ak, who said people using violence should be segregated from society.

As part of the shelter’s aim of reducing and eliminating family violence, the municipality offers counseling courses and special training to couples undergoing problems.

Women exposed to violence can contact the shelter at any time of the day or night, Ak said, adding that an information desk was specially tasked with fielding emergency calls from women in need.

The mayor also said there were plans to continually update Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the developments in the project.

Although the shelter only opened in December, Semiz said most people in the area were already aware of its presence, and added that 114 people had already called for help during the center’s three months of operation.

Some 27 women applied to the center either by phone or in person in December 2010, 44 women applied in January, while 43 applied last month, according to statistics provided by officials at the center.

[HH] 80 percent exposed to sexual abuse

Some 60 percent of the women at the shelter have experienced physical and psychological violence while 80 percent have been exposed to sexual abuse, according to experts at the shelter. Much of the sexual abuse occurs during childhood, the officials said.

Some 60 percent of the women applying to the center are high school graduates while the remaining 40 percent have only graduated from elementary school, according to experts.

Some of the women who have divorced their husbands are still dependent on their husbands financially. As such, such women are effectively prevented from either working or marrying without the permission of their husbands.

According to an Anatolia news agency report, 40 percent of the women seeking help experience problems resulting from their families while 20 percent of them experience violence due to a conflict in ideas. The remaining 40 percent is exposed to violence because of financial difficulties, the report said.

Some 40 percent of the women said they experienced no emotions when they are abused. Around 20 percent said they were angered when they were abused, 10 percent said they were said aggrieved and 30 percent said they were afraid when experiencing abuse.

Officials said 95 percent of the women did not work and added that 85 percent of them had attempted to commit suicide at some point during their marriages.

Some 30 percent of the men who commit the violence are graduates from primary school, 10 percent are graduates from middle school and 60 percent of are graduates of high school, the officials said.

At the same time, 10 percent of the men are unemployed, 10 percent are workers and 80 percent are self-employed, they said.