Domestic violence in Turkey climbed 33 percent in 2014

Umut Erdem ANKARA

F.Y. had cuts and traces of cigarette burns over her body when the special police forces broke into her house in Istanbul in the early hours of Jan. 23 to save her from her husband’s torture.

The unfortunate woman was crying as the police, who entered by breaking the lock of the door upon a notice by neighbors, were looking for her husband hiding under the bed. Still, she was luckier than the 133 women – 76 men and 25 children – killed in 2014 in acts of domestic violence, according to new data submitted to parliament by the police, the gendarmerie and the Justice Ministry.

The figures show that efforts to end this specific kind of violence are still largely ineffective, as recorded domestic violence incidents increased last year by 33 percent from 2013.

A study in prisons in the Turkish capital Ankara showed that the leading motivation behind violence against women is “honor” in 33.6 percent of all incidents.

Justice Ministry figures showed that some 29.3 percent of the incidents are derived from a "will to gain dominance," while 17 percent had "economic roots." 

The study showed that four out of every 10 convicts had been violent to women before the incidents that put them in jail. Nearly 66 percent of these men had attacked women with knives or guns.

The report, submitted to the parliamentary commission on inspecting the roots of violence against women, also showed that 40 women were killed last year while under legal protection.

Some 118,014 women, 29,419 men and 16,140 children faced domestic violence last year - figures that only cover recorded incidents. 

A comparison between the number of complaints in the first 30 months of a new protection code and the previous 30 months revealed that new legal rights had led to a 75 percent increase in complaints.