Over 30,000 women filed domestic violence complaints over app: Minister

ANKARA

Some 30,601 women have filed complaints for domestic violence from early June 2020 via a mobile application made specifically for this, according to Turkey’s interior minister, daily Milliyet reported.

Responding to a parliamentary question by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said that some 453,012 people have downloaded the Women Immediate Support (KADES) application since July 2.

Soylu said that some 30,601 women filed complaints over the application.

The application went into effect on March 24, 2018 and have been in use for the past two years.

The minister said that with the application, women who have been subjected to violence can share their location via their mobile phones with “one button” in emergency situations.

As a response to Soylu, the CHP deputy said that 38 women, on a daily average, informed authorities of violence they have been subjected to with a mobile app called the “Panic Button.”

İlgezdi also pointed out that the women who called for help over the applications were those who had the necessary means, such as owning a smartphone.

“Meaning, the data not unveiled are much higher and reveal a more poignant issue,” she said.