JINHA

ISTANBUL -  According to the Istanbul Women's Committee of Turkey's Human Rights Association (İHD), 2015 has already been a deadly year for women, with 28 murdered in January and 24 in February. İHD attributes the cases to state policies that encourage impunity for men and exploitation of women.

İHD announced the balance sheet for violence against women at a press conference in their Istanbul branch building.

In January, 38 women were wounded, eight raped, 31 compelled into sex work and 16 harassed. In February,17 women were wounded and eight were driven to suicide.Committee member DuriyeSezgin called attention to the particularly dangerous conditions for refugee women in Turkey.

The violence against women is a product of state policy, said MürrüvetYılmaz.Turkey's law allows for sentence reductions for murderers and rapists for "good behavior," a policy that İHD says makes rape and femicide easy for men—not just within the family, but in the institutions of the state.

"In the last 15 years, 363 women were harassed and raped while under arrest. Of the 241 police, 91 soldiers, 17 special forces members, 15 village guards and 45 prison guards tried for rape in these cases, not one of them ever received any legal punishment," said Mürrüvet.

Violations of women's rights in the workplace are also common, said Mürrüvet. With only 26% of women searching for work able to find it in February 2014, according to Turkish Statistical Institute figures, four million women in the country are left working in the informal economy, where there are no policies to protect them from violence.

The Women's Commission concluded by announcing that they will out on March 8 for the massive International Women's Day rally planned for the Kadıköy neighborhood in Istanbul.

Their other ongoing activities include following the hearings in the case of femicide victim Ebru Torun (slain by her brother-in-law); visiting women's workplaces; and reporting the results of their research on problems for women prisoners in Bakırköy Prison on March 6.

(za-sde/mg/cm)