* Photo: Daily Yurt
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The Metropolitan Municipality of İstanbul will open two new women's shelters in İstanbul. Dilek İmamoğlu, the wife of İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, has announced it on Twitter.
"With my husband Ekrem İmamoğlu, we have promised that we will always stand by and support women and children", Dilek İmamoğlu has indicated and added, "Two new Centers of Refuge for Women that will serve women in İstanbul will be put into service by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality very soon. You are never alone..."
Eşim @ekrem_imamoglu ile birlikte Kadınların ve Çocukların her zaman yanında ve destekçisi olacağımızı söylemiştik. İstanbul'da kadınlara hizmet verecek 2 yeni Kadın Sığınma Merkezi, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi tarafından çok yakında hizmete açılacak. Asla yalnız değilsiniz... pic.twitter.com/vzZ9lJnm2G
— Dilek İmamoğlu (@dilekk_imamoglu) October 29, 2019
Women's shelters in only five districts in İstanbul
The Law no. 5393 on Municipalities stipulates that district municipalities with a population of over 100 thousand people are obligated to open shelters for women and children. In other words, 36 of 39 districts in İstanbul are legally required to have shelters for women and children.
However, only the districts of Küçükçekmece, Kadıköy, Kağıthane, Pendik and Eyüp are known to have a shelter for women and children.
Purple Roof: There are 144 shelters in Turkey
Mor Çatı (Purple Roof) volunteers Zuhal Güreli and Leyla Soydinç have told bianet that there are women's shelters in all 81 provinces of Turkey. While 76 provinces have Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers (ŞÖNİM), there are 144 shelters in the country. Their bed capacity is around 3 thousand.
Women and children can stay in shelters for six months at most and when they have a special need or their need still continues, this period can be extended to one year or more. The Purple Roof Women's Shelter does not have a time limitation. (EMK/SD)