Domestic violence increases by 33 percent in 2014

Despite legal reforms, precautions and efforts, 163,573 people were victims of domestic violence in 2014 and 234 people lost their lives, even under protection by the police.

Turkey's Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Health officials made presentations before the Parliamentary Investigation Commission on Violence Against Women at the Turkish Parliament on Tuesday.
Tarıkhan Çetiner, Police Chief from General Directorate of Security, made a presentation to inform the commission regarding duties of related police branches to combat domestic violence, while exposing striking numbers on the scale of the problem.

Throughout 2014, 118,014 women, 29,419 men and 16,140 children were victims of domestic violence. 133 women, 76 men 25 children lost their lives in domestic violence cases. 23 women lost their lives while they were under temporary precaution measures by security forces and 21 others lost their as they were under protection on call. Çetiner stated that domestic violence cases and victims increased by 33 percent in 2014 compared to the previous year.

In 2014, southern province of Osmaniye had the most domestic violence case ratio per 100,000 people, while southwestern province of Hakkari stood at the bottom of the list.

Çetiner noted that this increase is also affected by the legal reforms and media attention to the subject that brought the scale of violence into a more visible level, pointing out the 75 percent increase in domestic violence applications between 30 months before and 30 months after the Article 6284 on Family Protection and Prevention of Violence Against Women went into effect.

Temporary precaution measures were implemented for 77,288 women and 9,793 men, Çetiner said, and currently 38 women and 5 men are under close protection, while 24,406 women and 3,357 men are under protection on call. Identities of 124 women, 6 men and 101 children were changed under legal precautions. Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers were founded in 14 provinces and pilot project regarding security call button devices were implemented in Adana and Bursa provinces. Currently 58 women and 3 men are using these devices.

Pointing out that the current approach is based solely on victims; Çetiner stated the need for more effective measures for prevention and rehabilitation of offenders. It would be useful if offenders are monitored with electronic tracking systems to prevent their attempts on victims, Çetiner said.