Four men detained over assault and rape of four women in Ankara

Fevzi Kızılkoyun ANKARA

The assailants were caught after their car was identified by security cameras.

Four men were arrested by police in Ankara on Oct. 22 after allegedly raping four women in an incident that has again shone the spotlight on an increase in crimes targeting women.

The four individuals, including a Georgian and a Syrian national, raided a house in the Turkish capital’s central district where four women were living. The women were first assaulted at home, threatened with guns and knives. They were then taken to an abandoned workshop on the outskirts of Ankara, where they were subjected to rape several times, before their assailants dropped them in the city center.

All four individuals were arrested shortly after by the police.

Reports have said the four men also attacked a beauty salon before assaulting the house in Kızılay, injuring an employee and attempting to rape a female worker. 

Women’s associations have long been advocating that the government toughen laws against rape, the murder of women and domestic violence, stressing that the current legislation contains many loopholes allowing criminals to get away with small sentences for their offenses.

According to NGOs, a women is raped every six minutes and sexual abuse is widespread but mostly unreported. NGOs also stress that widespread child marriages also blurr the definition of rape in the country.

The number of reported women’s murders has also increased this year, prompting activists briefly to occupy government buildings earlier this month in protest.