109 women killed in southeast in 2015: Rights group

DİYARBAKIR – Doğan News Agency

CİHAN photo

Some 109 women have been killed and 44 others have been injured in southeastern Turkey, according to 2015 Violation of Women Rights Toll released by Human Rights Association’s (İHD) Diyarbakır branch during a press statement on Feb. 5.

“Human rights have been violated amid curfews and women have been facing the gender-based legal system’s implementation, widely based on a discriminative and biased approach against women in the region,” Gülistan Yalçındağ of the branch said.

“These implementations rely on a reflex of protecting and vindicating men and they leave women unguarded,” she added.

Legal and other measures should be taken to protect women from violence, particularly by avoiding the reduction of sentences for “good behavior and unjust provocation,” urged the association.

“During armed clashes, one woman was killed, four others were wounded. Twenty-three women have committed suicide, while 19 other women have died of domestic violence. Nine women were killed due to social violence,” İHD Diyarbakır Lawyer Hatice Demir said.

Turkey has reported a rising cases of violence against women in recent years with courts delivering lessened penalties for those who commit violent acts against women, except for the murder of 20-year-old college student Özgecan Arslan. 

In the case concerning the brutal killing of the college girl, all three men involved were sentenced to aggravated life sentences in prison. The case received widespread coverage, triggering protests in many cities around Turkey. However, little has been done legally since then to prevent the reduction of sentences in cases concerning femicides and violent abuse against women.