Municipality approves panic buttons in public transportation to stop violence against women in Turkey’s south

ADANA – Anadolu Agency

In an attempt to stop violence against women and sexual harassment cases, public transportation vehicles in Turkey’s southern province of Adana will now have panic buttons. Drivers of public transportation will also need to obtain a drug-free report. 

Upon the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s advice, the Adana Metropolitan Municipality Transportation Coordination Center (UKOME) decided in its latest meeting that all public transportation vehicles should have “emergency panic buttons” to be pressed when passengers, especially women, feel under threat. 

Drivers will also need to get a drug-free report from a hospital and be subject to psycho-technic tests and education. The drivers will be barred from driving if they do not present their reports and certificates. 

The province’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated the act after the brutal slaying of 20-year-old Özgecan Aslan in February and the sexual harassment of a 17-year-old girl, who got on a minibus to go to the hospital in Adana. 

Aslan’s burned body was found in a river bed in the Mediterranean province of Mersin, which neighbors Adana, two days after she was killed by a minibus driver on Feb. 11, when she boarded the minibus to return home. Aslan’s death caused reactions across the country through various demonstrations held protesting violence against women. 

The municipality asked the police department to inspect the implementations in a written statement. 

The UKOME also previously decided that public transportation vehicles would have high resolution surveillance cameras showing the drivers’ seat and passengers’ seats.