Men killed 15 women and two infants, injured 32 women, raped nine and sexually harassed nine more women in May 2012, according to news stories compiled by bianet from local and national newspapers and news agencies.
Three women were killed and five more injured by men whom they had already filed a complaint against with the police or the prosecutor's office.
The Mediterranean region and the southern province of Adana turned out to be the most violent places in the country. The culprits were the women's husbands in the largest number of cases, while knives were their preferred weapon of choice.
Men killed a total of 71 women killed during the first quarter of 2012, while they also subjected 109 women to violence, raped 41 and sexually harassed 76 more.
May 1
Murder:
*T.C., 23, killed his girlfriend T.G., 17, by strangling her after he attempted kidnapping her twice in the southern province of Adana. Authorities then arrested T.C.
Violence:
*Emergency medical specialist Dr. G.A.K., who is employed at a hospital in Istanbul, said she had asked patient K.A. for his identity card after he arrived for treatment. K.A. threw his identity card at her, punched her in the stomach and said "You deserve to die. They do not shoot you for nothing; kill my pain," when she asked why he had punched her, she said.
*İ.C., 36, battered his wife S.C., 33 in the western province of Manisa. The victim then left her home and took refuge at their neighbors. İ.C. then took his daughter E.C., 8, hostage with a knife when he saw law enforcement officials approaching. He demanded the police leave the area but then let his daughter go after the police attempted to persuade him for six hours. He was then taken under custody.
Rape:
*Authorities arrested T.K., 54, a former education director and physical education teacher, at the airport after he allegedly sexually harassed his student G.K., 14, and raped and impregnated another student of his, A.F., 20, at his home in the southwestern province of Muğla. He was then transferred to the Bodrum courthouse and eventually sent to the Muğla Prison after he was arrested by order of the court.
Sexual harassment:
*M.S., 61, sexually harassed H.S., 20, the daughter-in-law of a relative of his, in the Black Sea province of Samsun. He was then arrested upon H.S.'s complaint, but the court then released him on probation.
May 2
Violence:
*H.K., 52, beat his disabled wife N.P., 51 in the northwestern province of Bolu. N.P then crawled toward the door and requested help from their neighbors. She was taken to hospital, while H.K. was taken under custody, and authorities subsequently launched an investigation.
*B.T., 36, battered and injured his wife S.T., 28, after they had a quarrel in Ankara. The victim then underwent treatment at a hospital and consequently filed a complaint against B.T.
*A.A., 30, beat his wife D.A., 26, whom he had married to through a religious (unofficial) ceremony. He then locked the door and left their home in Ankara. Paramedics then took D.A., who was six months pregnant, to hospital after she called the police for help.
May 3
Murder:
*M.K., 58, stabbed to death his 30 year long wife Ayşe Karabatak, 52 before his daughter-in-law and grandchild in Ankara. Police then caught M.K. at a park near their home after they arrived on the scene upon his daughter-in-law's notice. M.K. said his wife had been cheating on her. He was arrested in the courtroom.
Rape:
*D.F., an actress at a television series, said floor manager Y.Y. forced her to have sex by threatening her in Istanbul. The prosecutor's office filed a complaint, and authorities subsequently launched an investigation. Y.Y. is still set to testify.
Violence begotten by violence:
*E.B., 35, sexually harassed his girlfriend Y.N.G., 30, at his home in the northwestern province of Balıkesir. She then stabbed E.B. who then went to a bar, still wounded. The bartenders then called 112 and the police. Y.N.G. was detained but consequently released pending trial after E.B. chose not to file a complaint.
May 4
Violence:
*M.Ç., 34, stabbed his wife S.Ç., 34, who wanted a divorce, before their four year old child at a cafeteria in the Black Sea province of Samsun. Traffic police who witnessed the incident then took M.Ç. to the police station. M.Ç. was taken under custody, followed by an investigation, but S.Ç. was reported to be in critical condition.
May 5
Rape:
*F.K., 35, told M.A., 30, who was living with his mentally disabled husband, that his friend T.A., 25, liked and wanted to marry her. She agreed to meet when he said T.A. would also help her mentally disabled husband as well. F.K. and T.A. then took her to a forest with a car and raped her in the southern province of Antalya.
May 6
Sexual harassment:
*M.A., 17, a high school headmaster in the southern province of Osmaniye, sexually harassed a 17 year old student. M.A. refused the allegations against him in his testimony after police took him under custody upon a complaint. He was arrested by order of the court and sent to Osmaniye Prison.
May 7
Sexual harassment:
*İ.U., 37, threatened his girlfriend Ş.T., 39, who wanted to break up and sexually harassed her at the workplace in the southern province of Antalya. Authorities arrested him on charges of "sexual harassment, blackmail and insult," after Ş.T. filed a complaint.
May 8
Sexual harassment:
*Chief Doctor M.Y. was referred to the Prime Ministry's Ethics Board on the grounds he sexually harassed female doctor N.Ö. at the same dental hospital he was working in Ankara. The Ministry of Health then relieved him of his duties after he began mobbing when he learned he would be tried at a court. The investigation is still underway.
Violence begotten by violence:
*S.Ö., 27, subjected his girlfriend M.E., 22, whom he wanted to kidnap and marry in Ankara. M.E. returned back to her family home, but he continued badgering. M.E.'s family then killed him with a pistol. The suspects turned themselves into the police after the incident and were transferred to court after they testified at the police station.
May 9
Murder:
*İ.İ., 35, stabbed and killed his girlfriend Zeynep Köksal, 40, at a tea house in the Aegean province of İzmir. A group of women employed in the Selçuk District Municipality then held a demonstration by blockading the Atatürk Avenue, where the incident had taken place.
Violence-injury
*S.T. hit a vehicle from behind several times, causing it to fall over a cliff in the southern province of Adana. The passengers in the vehicle included his wife G.T., 24, who had filed a divorce suit and was two months pregnant, their two year old daughter, his mother-in-law E.D., 49, and his sister E.D., 28.
*İ.Ç. forced his pregnant wife Ö.Ç., 21, under a cold shower and then beat her in the southwestern province of Muğla. Ö.Ç. called the police for help, but the police released İ.Ç. after receiving his testimony, while Ö.Ç. was taken to hospital.
May 10
Violence - Injury
*E.Ö., an inspector from the Prime Ministry's Inspection Board subjected his wife S.K., an anchorwoman at the state owned broadcasting station TRT, to violence. E.Ö. also battered S.K.'s aunt who arrived on the scene after hearing her voice. E.Ö. was released after he testified, while S.K. filed a complaint against E.Ö. on the grounds her life was in peril.
Sexual harassment
*M.Y., 28, groped a tourist woman, M.B.S.B., 24, while she was walking on a sidewalk in the southern province of Antalya. Bystanders consequently caught M.Y. when they heard M.B.S.B. screaming and handed him over the police who arrived on the scene. M.Y. was then arrested by order of the court.
*V.Ş., 27, sexually harassed M.K., 25, after he introduced himself as a mailman and broke into her house in the northwestern province of Bursa. V.K. then panicked and attempted to flee when M.K. began screaming. He finally locked himself into the penthouse when he saw the neighbors approaching. Afraid the neighbors might try to lynch him, V.K. then called the police for help. The police took him under custody, and it turned out there was a search warrant for him for six separate crimes.
May 11
Murder:
*İ.İ, 35, murdered his girlfriend Z.K. in the central province of Konya. "I loved her very much. I got furious when she said she would break up, and I killed her," İ.İ said in his testimony. A court consequently arrested him and sent him to jail.
*A court sentenced A.T., 62, to prison terms for subjecting his wife Fatma Tanrıkulu, 56, to violence in the Aegean province of İzmir. He was then released on bail, however, and proceeded to stab his wife to death at home afterwards.
Violence:
*T.B., 24, proposed a date to E.S., 22, who was waiting at a bus station in the southern province of Adana. T.B. then subjected her to violence after she refused him. Police eventually identified and caught T.B. who rejected all the accusations against him. He was then transferred to court on charges of "sexual harassment" and "battery."
Rape:
*S.K., 31, called his wife A.K., 32, home and raped her. A.K. already wanted a divorce because he had subjected her to physical and sexual violence in the Black Sea province of Samsun. The neighbors consequently heard the noises emanating from their flat and called the police. A.K. filed a complaint against S.K. who now stands accused of rape with a demand for 15 years of imprisonment.
Sexual Harassment:
*Taxi driver H.B., 28, sexually harassed J.P., 38, a tourist woman who had boarded his vehicle in the southern province of Antalya. Authorities then took him under custody following her complaint.
May 12
Murder:
*N.M., 45, stabbed his wife Şakire Maviş, 36, in the chest and killed her before their 16 year old daughter in Istanbul. N.M. called 112 and said a vase had fallen on his wife but later confessed to his act of murder during the testimony.
Violence:
*S.B., 55, was battered by her son after she divorced from her husband in Istanbul. She then jumped off the third floor to escape. Police took him under custody, but the court then released him, after which time S.B. filed a complaint against him.
Sexual harassment:
*Students at the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in the eastern province of Van filed a complaint with the police after it came to light that a hole had been carved on the bathing rooms of a girls' dormitory.
Violence begotten by violence:
*D.E., 24, left her home at took refuge at her family's house after her husband İ.E., 29, subjected her to violence. İ.E. first attempted to persuade his wife to return, then went to his mother-in-law's house. D.E.'s mother Y.Ş., 40, then shot him in the stomach and killed him when she saw he was trying to get him back to their house by threatening her with a knife. Officials arrested Y.Ş. and released D.E. pending trial.
May 13
Violence:
*T.G. hit his wife B.G., 23, with a motorcycle, after they had parted their homes in Antalya. He then claimed that B.G. hit herself in the head with the motorcycle helmet and slammed her head on the ground. B.G. filed a criminal complaint against her husband.
Rape:
*E.B., 23, raped his girlfriend E.K., 17, at the workplace in the northwestern province of Bolu. E.B. photographed the incident and was later arrested upon her complaint by order of the court.
*Two people forced tourist M.G., 36, into a car and raped her in a forest in Antalya. The police launched an investigation.
May 14
Violence:
*C.Y., 30, took refuge with the police after her husband H.Y. battered her in the central province of Konya. H.Y., whom she had been married to for 12 years, incessantly beat her and their children, she said. She had also filed a complaint against her husband before and resided at a shelter home, she added.
May 15
Murder:
*A.Y., 30, shot her wife Nuriye Yaşar dead with a pistol before his workplace in the Black Sea province of Sinop.
*A.M., 15, was shot dead in her home with a firearm in the southeastern province of Hakkari. Police took her family's testimony, and the investigation is still underway.
*Leyla A., 23, who had been living away from her husband for two years, was found dead with stab wounds at a construction zone in the northwestern province of Tekirdağ. Law enforcement officials are still searching for her husband, suspect S.A.
May 16
Violence-Injury:
*An unidentified man in the eastern province of Sivas beat a woman on the street and injured her in the head, causing her to pass out. She was taken to hospital, while the man ran away.
*A.G., 23, beat his mother M.G. on Mothers' Day in the Black Sea province of Sinop. Authorities arrested A.G. and issued restraining orders for him for four months.
*İ.E., 38, stabbed his wife E.Ö., 29, who refused his offer to make up in the southern province of Adana. E.Ö. was critically injured in the incident. She made an official request for protection while still under treatment at the hospital. Her mother also claimed that her daughter's husband İ.E., with whom E.Ö. had married through a religious (unofficial) ceremony, had forced her into prostitution and that he attempted to kill her when she refused.
May 17
Violence-Injury:
*H.D. strangled his four year old son to death and beat his wife Z.D in the southwestern province of Denizli. It later came to light that he had been sentenced to prison terms before on the grounds he had subjected his wife to violence. He was later released, however when his wife retracted her complaint.
*S.N., forced her 16 year old daughter G.N. into having sex with K.Ö. in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır. Officials took G.N. under protection while arresting suspect R.D. and the mother who forced her into the act in a hotel room. G.N.'s father subsequently filed a complaint, while the prosecutor's office also filed a suit against mother S.N. and R.D.
May 18
Murder:
*Leyla, a transsexual woman in the western province of Manisa, was found dead in her home with stab wounds.
May 19
Violence-Injury:
*K.K. critically injured his wife M.K. by stabbing her eight times in the Aegean province of İzmir. It later turned out that a restraining order issued for K.K. had expired only two months ago.
May 20
Murder:
*M.B. killed his wife Medine Bakırcı with his unlicensed hunting rifle in the Aegean province of İzmir while he was having a quarrel with his male neighbor İ.C., and she was trying to separate them. M.B. committed suicide after the incident.
May 21
Murder:
*M.Y. murdered his wife Dilber Yılmaz, with whom they had married only five months ago, with a knife on the street in the central province of Konya. Later reports indicated that she had filed a complaint against him two days ago, but that authorities had detained and released him later on.
May 22
Violence-Injury:
*H.G., 30, injured his former wife Z.K., 28, with a utility knife after she refused his offer to make up. He then kicked her and ran away. He was then released pending trial after law enforcement officials took him under custody. He is standing trial with a demand for three years of imprisonment.
May 23
Murder:
*M.B., 22, killed his wife Esra Bilen, 22, and his 20 days old baby with a kitchen knife in the central province of Aksaray. He then attempted to commit suicide but was later taken to hospital.
Violence-Injury:
*S.E. beat his former wife O.Ş. at a café in the southern province of Adana. He then fled once the employees intervened in the incident, while O.Ş. said he had threatened to kill him before, too.
*E.D., 39, beat his former wife A.H., when she turned down his offer to make up in the southern province of Adana. After he attempted to kill her, authorities issued restraining orders for him for four months and also barred him from communicating with her through such media as telephone. It eventually came to light that A.H. had filed three separate complaints against him within a single year.
Sexual harassment:
*Z.Z., 71, knocked on the door of H.İ.K., 22, and sexually harassed her in Istanbul. He was then transferred to the courthouse.
May 24
Murder:
*İ.Ü. identified the location where his wife Demet Üçer, who had been living away from him, and stabbed her to death one day before their divorce suit in the central province of Kayseri. Later reports showed that Üçer had already filed a complaint against him on Feb. 23, 2012. She was consequently placed in a shelter home, but she could not stay there for long and started working.
Violence-Injury:
*Ö.G. shot and critically injured his wife M.G. just before they were to get divorced when they failed to agree over the issue of who would take custody over their children in the northwestern province of Bursa. Ö.G. then turned himself into the police.
*Z.K., 35 attacked female Doctor N.E. when she gave him news of the death of his son whom he had brought to the hospital for diarrhea in the eastern province of Maraş. Z.K. also attacked security staff and was taken under custody.
*M.Y. beat his wife Z.Y., 25, on the street in the central province of Kayseri on the grounds that she had not been "cooking at home." She was later taken to hospital.
*E.D., 39, beat his former wife A.H., 37 in the southern province of Adana. A.H. was taken to hospital, while authorities issued restraining orders for E.D. for four months. Reports indicate that she had filed three suits against him before, and that E.D. was released on bail after the court sentenced him to an 18 day long prison sentence in one of these suits.
Sexual harassment-Sexual Violence:
*E.T., 40, slapped a mentally disabled female tourist, R.M.D., 23, on the street in the southern province of Antalya. E.T. was consequently detained by law enforcement officials.
*A.Y. was sent to prison for sexually harassing a young woman in the western province of Aydın.
May 25
Violence-Injury-Suicide:
*Ç.T. beat his wife and then his 14 year old son A.T. in the Black Sea province of Trabzon. A.T. committed suicide after the incident, while officials arrested Ç.T. on the charge of domestic violence.
May 26
Violence-Injury:
*H.Y., 36, beat his wife E.K., 37, just as she was on her way to the prosecutor's office to file a complaint against him in the southern province of Adana. Law enforcement officials consequently detained H.Y.
Rape:
*G.K., 28, battered his wife D.K., 23, while their divorce suit was underway and raped her in the cemetery. He was then released pending trial after authorities detained him.
May 28
Murder:
*H.E., 25, shot dead her pregnant girlfriend D.Ş, 24, with a hunting rifle in the Aegean province of İzmir.
May 29
Violence-Injury:
*İ.E., 33, critically injured his divorced wife Havva E. in the central province of Tokat. Officials arrested him, while Havva E. was taken to hospital.
*B.Z. battered his female teacher, Y.Ç., 32, on the grounds he did not like the grade she gave her in the western province of Afyonkarahisar. He was later detained.
*M.A. beat his wife K.A., 28 in the eastern province of Adıyaman. She was consequently taken to hospital.
Violence begotten by violence:
*A.A., 27 stabbed and killed her husband A.A., 27, as he had been long been subjecting her to violence in the northwestern province of Sakarya.
May 30
Violence-Injury:
*V.O. injured his former wife D.K., 22, with oil he boiled in a pan in the kitchen in the Aegean province of İzmir. D.K. and V.O. had divorced eight months ago, but they had started living together again upon V.O.'s family's insistence, according to reports. V.O. had allegedly put out a cigarette on her arm before and bruised her by thrusting a screw driver into her leg.
May 31
Violence-Injury:
*İ.Ç., 35, battered his wife F.G., 25, and his son B.G., 2, and threatened her with a weapon in the central province of Konya. İ.Ç. was taken under custody upon her complaint.
Rape:
*E.G. kidnapped and raped H.Ö. while she was waiting at a bus stop to go to the hospital in the southeastern province of Şırnak. H.Ö. requested help from four people she took to be the police, but they also raped her. She attempted suicide but then told her story to the police. The police consequently caught three people, while two other suspects are still on the run. (ÇT)
