Murders Of Women In Turkey Cause Wave Of Protests, Erdogan's Reaction

Thirty-four women were murdered by men in the country last September.

A series of brutal attacks on women has sparked a wave of outrage and protests in Turkey. President Recep Erdogan has promised to tighten criminal laws.

Violence against women is a widespread crime in Turkey, Politico writes. About 300 women have been killed this year. Protesters condemn the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party for not including women's safety among state policy priorities.

However, three recent killings have shaken public opinion in Turkey. Protest marches have taken place in various cities demanding that the government end impunity for the perpetrators and stop the wave of violence.

Last week, the country was shaken, according to Politico, by the murder of a woman named Iqbal Uzuner by a 19-year-old butcher. He beheaded the victim and then killed himself. The killer threw Uzuner's head off Istanbul's historic city walls in the presence of her mother. On the same day, he killed another young woman, Ayşenur Halil, by slitting her throat.

A few days earlier, in September, a 26-year-old police officer was murdered. The suspect in the murder was a previously convicted repeat offender.

On Wednesday, October 9, Erdogan said at a meeting with a parliamentary group of his ruling Justice and Development Party, ‘The series of recent events, the execution of a policewoman and two brutal murders of young women, have caused a just reaction in our country. We are concerned that criminals with dozens of criminal cases in their files are walking around free.’ Erdogan promised to tighten the penal system and stop the early release of convicts.

The protesters were sceptical of Erdogan's promise. They claim that in 2021, the president decided to terminate Turkey's participation in the Istanbul Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women. The president explained at the time that some of the Convention's provisions were detrimental to traditional family values. Politico notes that the Convention also seeks protection for LGBTQ+ communities.

The ‘We Stop Femicide’ movement reported that 34 women were murdered by men in Turkey last September alone, and twenty more died under suspicious circumstances in the same month.

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