ANKARA
Violence against women is a crime against humanity, Turkey's president said on Monday.
"Violence against women is one of the gravest crimes against humanity," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Twitter on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Erdogan stressed they will continue to fight abuse, harassment, discrimination, and violence against women.
He also said he wished Turkey could completely eliminate this shame.
Also marking the day, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said: "A total of 124,521 cases of domestic violence and violence against women took place, according to 10-month data [for 2019], but this is a drop of 19.1% compared to the same period last year".
Soylu highlighted that the ministry has stepped up preventive measures and tried to provide data to all studies aiming to prevent violence against women.
Turkey's Women Emergency Assistance Notification System (KADES) app, which allows immediate reaction in case of violence against women, has been downloaded by over 353,000 people, Soylu said.
KADES is an emergency application to enable women who have been the subject of domestic violence or may face violence to notify police faster.
He added that nearly 79,000 personnel, especially those who are working in police stations, have been trained on the issue of violence against women since 2014.
"Sensitivity to the issue, especially contacting security units, filing complaints, and follow-up mechanisms, give very positive results," he added.
'Violence against women poisons societies'
Turkey’s first lady Emine Erdogan stressed that violence is a malignant tumor in societies.
"We must all fight to eradicate this malignant tumor which poisons humanity," she said, speaking at Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center in the capital Ankara.
She added that 137 women across the world are killed by a member of their own family every day, according to a UN report.
"A total of 87,000 women -- 30,000 of them by their husbands or relatives -- were intentionally killed in 2017," she stressed.
Violence against women should be addressed not only with its physical but also economic and psychological dimensions, she said, adding that there are several measures to take, including legal regulations and reinterpretation of cultural norms.
"Each murder of a woman means stabbing the humanity in the back," the first lady stressed.
She also said women have sought their rights and not hidden the crimes committed against them.
"I hope no woman will ever live her life under such 'terror of horror,' but we must continue our struggle and take steps to bring about social transformation," she added.
