MALE VIOLENCE MONITORING REPORT JANUARY 2020
Men Kill 21 Women in January
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* Photo & Infographic: Yağmur Karagöz
Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish
According to the news compiled by bianet from local and national newspapers, news websites and news agencies, men killed at least 21 women in January 2020.
In January, the deaths of at least 14 women were reported in the news as "suspicious" (in Muğla 2, Siirt, Adana, Antalya, Aydın, Malatya, İstanbul 2, Çankırı, İzmir, Manisa, Kocaeli and Bursa).
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Men drove four women to suicide in Edirne, Denizli, Diyarbakır and İzmir.
In January 2020, the deaths of at least two women (in the provicnes of Kayseri and İstanbul) were reported in the press as "unidentified murders." Men also attempted to kill one woman.
Moreover, a woman named S.Ö. killed a man named S.A. with a gun at the toilet of a train station in Kayseri. Turning herself in to the police, the woman said that the man had raped her.
It was also reported in the news that Gülistan Doku, a student of Munzur University in Turkey's eastern province of Dersim, had been missing since January 5, 2020. Doku is still being searched.
Feminicide / Murder
Men killed at least 21 women in January 2020. Men also killed 23 women in the same month last year.
The man who killed two women had been systematically torturing the deceased women. One of the killed women had a protection order.
Two women were killed by a man who had just got out of the prison. One of the perpetrators was a village guard.
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The women killed by men in January Alev E., Aynur E., Büşra Y., Deniz G., Ebru A., Ece A., Emine A., Esma P., Fatma T., Füsun A., Gamze E., Leman E., Melike D., Mesrure G., Seyhan Y., Şehriban Ç., Şerife B., Tuğçe D., Zübeyde D., Zülfiye Y. and one unidentified woman. |
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The provinces where men killed women Adana (1), Ağrı (1), Ankara (1), Antalya (2), Aydın (1), Bingöl (1), Çanakkale (1), Diyarbakır (1), Iğdır (1), İstanbul (4), İzmir (2), Kırşehir (1), Kocaeli (1), Kütahya (1), Manisa (1), Mardin (1). |
The "excuses" of men for killing 15 women were not reported in the press. While men killed three women because "they did not want to reconcile/want to have a divorce", they reportedly killed three women under the pretext of "jealousy."
In January, 12 women were killed by their husbands/boyfriends/husbands of religious marriage, four women were killed by their ex-husbands/boyfriends, four women were killed by their family members such as fathers and sons and one woman was killed by her neighbor.
Men killed 13 women with firearms and four women by stabbing them to death. While men killed one woman by burning and one woman by battering, they killed one woman by strangling her. The method of killing in one feminicide was not reported in the news.
Men killed 10 women at home and five women on the street. The places of incident in six feminicide cases were not reported in the press.
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Judicial process There were 22 perpetrators who killed women in January. Six perpetrators were reported in the news as "committed suicide." While only five perpetrators were arrested, nine perpetrators were taken into custody. |
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Previously committed feminicides reported in the news in January 2020 * Zehra Ö. was reported missing in Konya in 2010. The murder suspect was identified on January 16. Reopening the investigation file, the Konya Homicide Department found that the woman was in a relationship with her cousin R.Ç. In his testimony, R.Ç. confessed that Zehra Ö. wanted to be with him, but he did not want it as she was married and he stabbed her to death for that reason. R.Ç. has been arrested. * The dead body of a woman wrapped in a blanket was found in the woods in İstanbul. It was understood that the woman named Melahat İ. (40) was hit on her head with a hard object. Examining the surveillance cameras around the scene of incident and her house, the police found that she was killed by her son B.Ü. (21) and his male friend F.S. helped him to carry the body. It was announced that B.Ü. killed his mother on December 19 by hitting her on the head with a chipping hatchet because he was living with a man at her house, kept her dead body at home for 15 days. B.Ü. and F.S. were detained. * 17-year-old A.Ç. had been missing in Mardin since 2013. It was understood that the girl was killed by her father and relatives. |
Violence against children
In Trabzon, a man named Z.F. battered his 15-year-old daughter Y.F. with a belt because she was speaking with her boyfriend. In Antalya, a 40-year-old man named B.K. killed his 12-year-old daughter Ekin K.
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Judicial process Father Z.F. who battered his daughter was taken into custody. In his testimony, he said that he hit his daughter "as a reflex of fatherhood." Considering the belt as a weapon, the prosecutor's office issued an indictment against the father. The judicial process of the father who killed his daughter in Antalya was not reported in the news. |
Rape
According to the news compiled by bianet from local and national newspaper, news website and agencies, men raped at least 16 women in January 2020. This figure was four last January.
Four women raped by men in January 2020 were also subjected to the systematic sexual assault of men. One of the raped women had mental disabilities. One incident of rape was understood after the woman got pregnant. One of the women was from Syria.
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The provinces where men raped women Adana (1), Antalya (3), Aydın (1), İstanbul (2), Kayseri (2), Kütahya (1), Mersin (4), Samsun (1), Trabzon (1). |
Three women were raped by their boyfriends and husbands of religious marriage, two women by their relatives, one woman by the owner of a business, one woman by a shopkeeper, six women by male strangers and two women by their fathers.
Men raped 10 women at home, two women on the street, one woman at grocery store and two women at workplace. The scene of incident in one incident of rape was not reported in the press.
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Judicial process Six perpetrators werearrested. Women filed a criminal complaint against four perpetrators. Three perpetrators were detained. Two perpetrators were released. The judicial process of one perpetrator was not reported in the news. |
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Previously committed rapes reported in the news in January 2020 * In Mardin, A.K. had been raping and inflicting violence on 23-year-old İ.Y. since 2017. Indicating that she had a miscarriage due to violence, İ.Y. also said that the family of the man was threatening her and when he went to the police to file a complaint, the officers told her that 'she came there for nothing and nothing would come out of threat and blackmail.' A.K. went abroad after the complaint. * A man named H.P. sexually assaulted a woman in İstanbul. The incident happened on December 15. It was on January 3 that the lawsuit was filed into the incident and the incident was reported in the press. * On August 13, 2019, two businesspeople raped 28-year-old M. in Hatay, where she went for a holiday. The woman announced the incident on Twitter as she was verbally harassed by the defending attorneys at court in the first hearing. |
Harassment
Men harassed at least 16 women in January. This figure was seven in the same month last year.
Women did not know 15 of the men who harassed them. At least three women were harassed by their managers and at least one woman by their therapists.
Men harassed 12 women physically or verbally, one woman by masturbating in front of her, two women on social media and one woman by showing their sexual organs to her.
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Provinces where men harassed women Adapazarı (1), Antalya (1), Çanakkale (1), Eskişehir (2), İstanbul (8), Kütahya (1), Muğla (1), Zonguldak (1). |
| Judicial process
Three perpetrators were detained, two perpetrators were arrested. Investigations were launched against two perpetrators. Complaints were filed against two perpetrators. The judicial process regarding five perpetrators was not reported in the press. |
Child abuse
Men sexually abused at least 31 boys and girls. This figure was 10 in the same month last year. Two of the children were impregnated and taken under state protection with their children.
At least 15 children did not know people who abused them. 12 children were abused by their children, two by their neighbors and two by their relatives.
Men abused 12 children at schools, seven children in parks, gardens, supermarkets and on the street, two children at home. Where men abused 10 children was not reported in the press.
| Provinces where men abused children
Ankara (2), Antalya (2), Diyarbakır (1), Düzce (1), Isparta (1), İstanbul (4), Karaman (1), Kastamonu (1), Kocaeli (1), Mardin (2), Samsun (1), Tokat (2), Urfa (6), Uşak (6). |
| Judicial process
Only seven of the perpetrators who abused children were arrested. Three perpetrators were released. One perpetrator was released despite footage showing him abusing a child. Seven perpetrators were detained. Investigations were launched against two perpetrators. The judicial process regarding one perpetrator was reported as "at large" in the press. The judicial process regarding two perpetrators was not reported in the press. |
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Cases of child abuse that happened in the past years but reported in the press in January In İstanbul, a woman named Ö.K. (19) filed a complaint at the prosecutor's office against her father H.K. (53) and brother E.K. (23), who abused her for years. Another sibling of the woman claimed that their father killed their 1.5-year-old sibling and buried him/her. In Antalya, a girl named B.İ. went to the police when she turned 18 to complain about her father H.M.İ., who had been raping her since she was five or six years old. H.M.İ. was arrested. In her statement, B.İ. said that she wished to commit suicide many times. In İstanbul, H.B. was sentenced to 8 years and 4 months in prison for abusing a relative girl named S.B. (15). His sentence was reduced due to "good conduct." After three months of arrest, he was released upon court order. The incident was reported in the press on January 16. In İzmir, M.M.Y. (30), an English teacher at a private kindergarten, allegedly abused 10 students in 2018. The children, the youngest of whom was five years old and the oldest of whom was 6 years old, gave statements in the investigation that was opened in January 2019. The trial began on February 5. |
Violence / Injury
Men inflicted violence on at least 48 women. This figure was 27 in the same month last year. Five of the women were in critical condition as of the end of January.
Two men who used violence on women had protection orders against them. They violated the protection order.
One woman was settled in a women's shelter because of male violence. Three women were subjected to systematic violence. One man used violence on a woman after getting out of prison.
Three of the women who were subjected to violence from men were not citizens of Turkey. One was from Syria.
In at least three cases of violence, men robbed women. Three women received a medical report stating they were battered. One woman who was subjected to male violence was a transgender woman.
Men threatened three women in Manisa, Osmaniye and İzmir.
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Provinces where men inflicted violence on women Adana (1), Adıyaman (1), Antep (3), Bursa (2), Çorum (1), Edirne (14), İstanbul (12), İzmir (1), Karabük (1), Kırklareli (1), Kocaeli (1), Konya (2), Manisa (1), Sakarya (2), Samsun (3), Trabzon, (1), Van (1). |
Women did not know seven men who inflicted violence on them. 28 women were subjected to violence from their husbands/boyfriends, four women from their family members such as fathers and sons, one woman from her friend, and one woman from by the physician in chief at the place she worked.
Men's excuses for using violence on at least 34 women were not reported in the press. They used violence on at least eight women because they wanted to break up or did not want to make peace, on three women because of "jealousy," on two women because of "economic reasons," and on one woman because of a dispute regarding the custody of their child.
Men battered 34 women. They injured five women by stabbing, one woman by gunfire, and two women by burning them. How men inflicted violence on one woman was not reported in the press.
| Judicial process
Only four of the perpetrators were arrested. The judicial process regarding 16 women was reported as "women filed a criminal complaint" or "an investigation was opened" in the press. The situation of only one perpetrator was reported as "a lawsuit was filed." A protection order was issued against one perpetrator. Legal action was not taken regarding one perpetrator. One perpetrator was reported as "at large," and two were reported as "wanted." One perpetrator committed suicide and eight perpetrators were detained. |
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Past incidents of violence that were reported in the press in January Y.Ç., a trans woman in İstanbul, said that the police detained her on December 31, 2019, because of her "transgender identity" and tortured her at the police station. |
Forced sex work
Men forced at least 121 women to sex work in January. This figure was five in the same month last year. 82 of the women were not citizens of Turkey.
| Judicial process
54 of the perpetrators were detained and at least three of them were arrested. |
| Explanation
The bianet Male Violence Monitoring Report only covers women who lost their lives as a result of male violence. We do not include any violence cases or crimes that are not gender-based. Throughout the year, we keep track of unidentified murders and suspicious deaths of women in separate monthly tallies but do not add them to the number presented in the headline. At the end of the year, we examine these cases of unidentified murders and suspicious deaths to determine whether the crimes were gender-based. We add the gender-based incidents into the report. We do not include any murders in the reports that are committed by people with psychological disorders (such as murders committed by people with schizophrenia). We include suicide or suicide attempt incidents in the tally only if the woman was subjected to violence/ systematic violence in her past. We cover these suicide incidents in a separate category and do not add suicide cases to the number presented in the headline. In addition, we don't include femicide cases that occur in a mass murder in which the woman was not directly targeted under the condition that the debated incident is not gender based either. Occupations of the offenders only included in the reports when the incident of violence is related to the occupation of the offender. For example, "Woman was murdered at home by his husband, who is a professional soldier." We add the violence committed on children by men, to make the extent of violence visible. |
(EMK/SD/VK)
Editor of bianet Women’s News (2018). Editor of bianet Women’s and LGBTI+ News from October 2018 to February 2025. She conducts workshops on gender-focused journalism and reporting on gender-based violence. She is among the founders of the Women and LGBTI+ Commission of the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS). She is a board member of the TGS Istanbul Branch for the 2023–2027 term. She received the Musa Anter Journalism Award in 2011 and the Turkish Psychiatric Association’s Best News Award in 2024. She worked as a reporter for Cumhuriyet, BirGün, İMC TV, DİHA, Jinha, and Jin News, and also worked for local newspapers in Rize. Her news reports and articles have been published in Sivil Sayfalar, Yeşil Gazete, Journo, and trade magazines. She is one of the founding writers of GOR, a Hemşin culture magazine. She contributed writings to the books Yeşilden Maviye Karadenizden Kadın Portreleri, Sırtında Sepeti, and Medya ve Yalanlar. She was a bianet intern in 2000. She graduated from the Department of International Relations at Istanbul Bilgi University.
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