25 women killed in Turkey in March: Women’s rights group

ISTANBUL

A total of 25 women were killed in Turkey in March, according to a new report released by the country’s We Will Stop Femicides Platform.

The women’s rights organization stated that the number of women killed in February was 47.

The province of Istanbul had the highest number of femicide incidents in March, followed by the Mediterranean province of Antalya and the capital Ankara.

According to data provided by the platform, 11 out of 25 cases were “suspicious deaths,” while eight of the women were “murdered for taking decisions regarding their own lives.”

The report underlined that more than half of the women killed in March were aged between 36 and 65.

The report also stated that cases of child abuse and sexual assault continued in March, with at least 28 women reported to have been exposed to sexual assault.

Among the most striking incidents of March were the reports of 186 underage pregnant girls having been treated in the northwestern province of Edirne in 2017.

In 2017, a total of 409 women were killed and 387 children were reported as having been sexually abused in Turkey, according to data compiled by the same group.

On March 8 thousands of women flocked to central Istanbul for this year’s International Women’s Day demonstration, demanding greater women’s rights and denouncing violence against women.