2,416 women, LGBTI+s subjected to violence in Diyarbakır

* News and photo: JinNews

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Yesterday, November 25, was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. On this occasion, the Diyarbakır Network for Struggle Against Violence shared the results of its annual report on violence at a press conference yesterday.

Addressing the public at the Lawyers for Freedom Association (ÖHD) Diyarbakır Branch, lawyer Cansel Talay read out the press statement of the network and lawyer Songül Argünağa read out the report.

According to the statement, 11 women, Süreyya Büyük, Gülistan Şaylemez, Havva Yılmaz, Bedia Aydoğan, Semanur Kaplan, Şirvan Dönmez, Sevgil Fidan, Emine Karakaş, Ayşe Tayurak, Aslı Demir and Gurbet Fida, were killed by men in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır in the period from October 26, 2020 to November 15, 2021. Four women survived such attacks with injuries during the reporting period.

The report has also shown that 36 refugee women applied to institutions because they were subjected to violence. While nine of these applications were about psychological violence, three women that they were subjected to sexual violence, four women were subjected to economic violence, seven were subjected to social violence, four women were subjected to physical violence and nine women were subjected to verbal violence.

According to the data of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, six women attempted to commit suicide in this one-year period.

Of the women who applied to the Diyarbakır Bar Association for legal assistance in the face of violence, 965 women said that they were subjected to different types of violence: 840 women were subjected to psychological violence, 347 were subjected to sexual violence, 888 said that they were subjected to economic violence, 404 women were subjected to social violence, 952 women were subjected to physical violence and 965 women were subjected to verbal violence in Diyarbakır in this period.

While 168 women applied to the associations under the roof of the network and said that they were subjected to violence, the number of applications from the women's prison was 46, according to the report. One woman was also reported missing in the reporting period.

23 women applied to the NGOs and complained that they were subjected to torture in detention and 18 women applied to institutions for health measures following their imprisonment. 47 of the 70 prisoners in the Diyarbakır Women's Closed Prison reportedly had life-threatening illnesses.

Only in Diyarbakır and its vicinity, 2,416 women and LGBTI+s applied to the network's constituencies on the grounds that they were subjected to violence. Recalling that 1,841 women were subjected to violence in 2020 according to their previous report, the network stressed that violence gradually increased as it could be understood when the two reports were compared. (EMK/SD)