Turkey has long struggled to prevent violence against women, and Erdoğan’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention only worsened matters.
Protests after the murder of Turkish student Özgecan Aslan. 2015. Hilmi Hacaloglu. CC0
Femicide is a massive problem for women in Turkey. According to data from the women’s rights group We Will Stop Femicide, 338 women were murdered by a man between March 2023 and March 2024. The same data reports that the large majority of these women were killed by a close male relation, with the most common motive being their refusal to marry or have a relationship with their murderers.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the 2017 G-20 Hamburg summit. Пресс-служба Президента Российской Федерации. CC-BY-4.0
In March 2021, Turkish President Erdoğan announced his decision to withdraw Turkey from the Istanbul Convention, itself named after Turkey's largest city. The convention obligates political parties to “develop laws, policies and support services to end violence against women and domestic violence.” It also included clauses aimed at protecting members of the LGBTQ+ community from violence.
The decision was met with outrage and criticism from activist groups, lawyers and politicians. Following the decision, thousands took to the streets to protest. Amnesty International Secretary-General, Agnès Callamard, spoke against the decision, expressing her concern that “the withdrawal sends a reckless and dangerous message to perpetrators who abuse, maim and kill: that they can carry on doing so with impunity.”
International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 2019. Neslihan Turan. CC0 1.0
We Will Stop Femicide was founded in 2012 in response to the murder of an 18-year-old high school student, Münevver Karabulut, and has been one of the leading advocates of women’s rights in Turkey ever since. The group began an initiative to collect, analyze and publicize data on femicide in Turkey in response to claims from the government that no such data existed. They gather their data from cases reported to the public and cases reported directly to the group by associates of the victims. “Patriarchy is the reason behind the loss of so many lives,” the group states on its website. “The lack of efficient policies that secure equal existence and rights of women is also encouraging men who are prone to violence.”
A lawyer working with the women’s rights group We Will Stop Femicide, Esin İzel Uysal, stated that there has been a significant increase in femicides as a result of Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, with authorities refusing to take action in the face of violations of women’s rights. As of 2024, almost 2,000 women have either been murdered by men or died under suspicious circumstances since Turkey’s withdrawal in 2021.
Women’s rights groups in Turkey such as We Will Stop Femicide continuously face opposition and oppression from the government. On December 2nd, 2021 the Intellectual and Property Rights Investigation Bureau of the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit against We Will Stop Femicide aimed at shutting the group down, citing “illegal and immoral actions.” On September 13th, 2023, the court rejected the lawsuit.
Women in Turkey continue to fight for their rights and their lives despite government opposition and police violence. In March 2024, thousands of women defied a ban against protests on International Women’s Day, seeking to draw attention to the rise of femicide in Turkey and voice their discontent with Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention.
TO GET INVOLVED
We Will Stop Femicide: We Will Stop Femicide’s website lists several ways to support their cause, including producing visual materials for their social media and participating in the collection of data on violence against women.
Women for Women’s Human Rights: Another Turkish feminist group, WWHR initiated a Human Rights Education Program for women in 1995 that seeks to educate women about their rights and help them exercise those rights. Information about participation in the HREP program can be found here.
Rebecca Pitcairn
Rebecca studies Italian Language and Literature, Classical Civilizations, and English Writing at the University of Pittsburgh. She hopes to one day attain a PhD in Classical Archeology. She is passionate about feminism and climate justice. She enjoys reading, playing the lyre, and longboarding in her free time.