Turkey witnesses 251 femicides in a year: Minister

ANKARA

Turkey has witnessed some 251 femicides in a year as of Nov. 15, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has said in a video-conference meeting with governors of all 81 provinces.

“The number of femicides in the whole of 2020 was 268. It seems that the number [of femicides] in 2021 will surpass that of last year,” Soylu noted.

The minister held a meeting with the governors on Nov. 24 within the scope of events for the Nov. 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

“Human lives are more important than statistics. We have to take action next month,” Soylu added.

To prevent new femicides, the minister advised governors to promote the “denunciation and complaint systems” between the public and security officials in their provinces.

“Some 35 percent of women killed this year were the ones who made official complaints about their murderers to the security units before the killings,” he expressed.

On the day the minister made the warnings, two new incidents of violence against women took place.

An aggressor attacked a female courier with a baseball bat in the capital Ankara. According to the surveillance footage, the man stopped his car in front of the woman’s motorcycle and started quarreling.

“He punched me on the head. If I had taken out my helmet, I would be hurt,” Esra Nur Olgun said, adding that she would file charges against him.

The second incident happened on a metro ride on Istanbul’s Asian side. A man took out a knife and started insulting a woman while the metro was running.

The surrounding people guarded the woman as the man left the metro. The attacker was caught in a police operation early on Nov. 25.

Officials said the suspect had 20 different crime records.

Meanwhile, the Black Sea region’s well-established football club Samsunspor changed its jersey to draw attention to the problem of femicides and violence against women.

From now on, the red and whites will take the pitch with purple jerseys on which “No to violence against women” will be written in 15 different languages.

“The jerseys will also be on sale in the club’s stores. The revenue from the sales made will be donated to victims of domestic violence,” the club said in a statement.

“We would like everyone in Turkey, men or women, to wear our jerseys. We want to make history with this initiative,” said Zeycan Yıldırım, the daughter of the club’s president.

Officials of the club also have another action to take. They will organize events to train women with martial arts to defend themselves against any danger, Yıldırım added.