Thirty-nine women were murdered in Turkey in June, according to a report released on Wednesday by the We Will Stop the Killing of Women Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu, or KCDP) which also underlined that sexual abuse and sexual violence continue to increase across the country.

The monthly report detailed violations of women and children’s rights and criticised the authorities for not doing all they are required to do by the İstanbul Convention to combat violence.

“Unless concrete steps are taken against violence the dimension of violence will include more and more killings. In June, 18 women were killed by causes not yet established, while in 14 murders the killers have not been identified,” said the report.

“The violation of women’s rights by the Turkish authorities is another dimension of violence,” said the report, underlining that 12,000 women in shelters were prevented from voting in the June 24 elections.

According to the report, four women were killed in İstanbul, four in Antalya, three in Bursa, three in İzmir and three in Muğla in June. Also, 22 women suffered from sexual violence in the same period.

The report said 11 women were killed by their husbands, five by a relative, three by a spouse in a religious marriage, two by their former husbands, two by their boyfriends, one by her son and one by her father.

The report also underlined 24 cases of child abuse. According to the report, 10 children were victims of abuse by strangers, five by relatives, four by teachers, one of by their boss and four by acquaintances.

Meanwhile, according to a report by Bianet basing on data compiled from local and national newspapers, news sites and agencies, men killed 23 women and raped at least two women; harassed 13 women; sexually abused 12 girls; inflicted violence on at least 27 women in June.

Bianet reported that in the first six months of 2018, men killed at least 120 women and seven children; raped 32 women; harassed 102 women; forced 325 women to sex work; sexually harassed 189 girls; and wounded 212 women.

In June, men killed 23 women, two children and three men who intervened in an incident of violence. 13 percent of the murders took place in public places such as streets and parks.

At least 6,375 women were killed across Turkey in the last 15 years under the rule of the Justice of Development Party (AKP) led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

According to information provided by Şenal Sarıhan, a deputy of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and then-deputy chairperson of the parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Commission, as of November 25, 2017 the annual number of women who were murdered was 66 in 2002 when the AKP came to power in Turkey; however, this number rose to 338 in the first 10 months of 2017.

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