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1,638 women murdered in Turkey in 6 years

Xinhua, November 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

At least 1,638 women have been murdered in Turkey over the past six years that prompted Friday President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's calls for necessary steps to confront.

While speaking at a meeting on women in Istanbul on Friday, President Erdogan said that necessary steps should be taken to raise social and cultural awareness to solve the issue.

"There should be a change of understanding in the society," he said. "Otherwise no legislation would prevent early marriages as long as they exist in the culture."

The figure was released by "kadincinayetleri.org," a website that keeps track of homicides against women based on reports by media and NGOs, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which falls on Friday.

Some 240 women have been murdered across Turkey over the past year alone, while 201 lost their lives even though they had applied for protection by the authorities.

According to the statistics, about 341 women were murdered during divorce period by their husbands, and around 305 were killed after experiencing a sexual harassment.

Almost 60 percent of the murderers have been caught by the police, while 17 percent of them committed suicide, the statistics showed.

Violence against women and early-age marriage are seen as Turkey's biggest social issues that need to be sorted out.

Under the civil code, marriage under the age of 17 is prohibited in the country. The marriage of children aged 16 is subject to court action, while a public case is opened automatically for all sexual offenses against children aged 15 or below.

Early marriages, however, are very common in Turkey.

The Turkish government abolished a controversial bill days ago, as it had sparked an outcry in the country for pardoning those who assaulted underage girls on condition that they marry their victims.

Women associations have been urging the authorities to openly denounce all kinds of violence against women, increase the number of shelters for them, and offer free consultation services and legal aid for those subjected to violence. Endit