HDP MP Semra Güzel presented a femicide report for the first seven months of the year in Amed (Diyarbakir). According to the report, 155 women were murdered by men throughout Turkey in the period under review. A further 85 women have died in suspicious circumstances.

Domestic violence and attacks on the women's movement

At the press conference at HDP headquarters, Semra Güzel pointed out that parallel to the rise in cases of male violence against women, the State’s attacks against the women's movement have also increased. During the Corona pandemic, she said, no measures have been taken to prevent violence in domestic isolation. Violent offenders, who were released from mid-April as part of the reform of the enforcement law, continued their acts of violence after returning to their families. In Amed alone, two women have been murdered by released offenders.

Women are forced out of public space

The HDP politician underscored that no living space has been left for women under state-appointed trustee administration. During the period under review, four female HDP mayors were deposed by the Ministry of the Interior. Women's work has been stopped in all cities and municipalities usurped by the government. Women's institutions have been closed or placed under the direction of men. According to Semra Güzel, this forces women to withdraw into domesticity, where they are exposed to violence.

Repression and torture of women

At the same time, numerous women politicians and activists of the women's movement were arrested and imprisoned in Amed. Twenty-one of those concerned have turned to the Human Rights Foundation Turkey (TIHV) for charges of ill-treatment in police custody. Five of the women have stated that they have been tortured.

Seven women murdered

In Amed, seven women were murdered by men in the first seven months of the year. Nine women lost their lives in suspicious ways. In August, two cases have so far come to light in which women had to be hospitalized due to the violence they suffered. In the case of an attempted femicide, the perpetrator and husband of the victim wanted to portray the act as suicide.

Implement Istanbul Convention!

In view of this picture of violence, Semra Güzel called for an immediate end to the repression of women's associations and activists. The system of dual leadership based on gender parity should be recognised in order to enable equal representation, she said and called for the prison conditions in the women's prison in Diyarbakir to be improved.

Furthermore, HDP MP Semra Güzel calls for the expansion of the capacities of women's shelters and the unconditional application of the Istanbul Convention on the Prevention of Violence against Women.