Endless femicides in Türkiye
A chain of protests erupted all over Türkiye following multiple femicides last week. Semih Celik murdered two 19-year-old women, Ikbal Uzuner and Ayşenur Çelik in Istanbul. In the same week, Aslan Uğur Araç murdered his partner Sonay Öztürk in the Southern city of Mersin, while Muhammed Işık murdered his wife Bedriye Işık in Diyarbakir.
These murders are not isolated incidents in Türkiye. The protests in Istanbul, Mersin, and Bursa addressed the governing AKP party's continued inaction against the femicides and sexist violence in Türkiye.
As many as 292 femicides have been recorded in Türkiye in 2024 alone. According to activists who protested the frequent femicides in multiple Turkish cities over the week, femicides persist in Türkiye because perpetrators ”do not face significant consequences.” Among the many lacking legal enforcement mechanisms to stop perpetrators the Istanbul Convention sticks out. Türkiye's government withdrew from the agreement in 2021.