Recent reports suggest that sex crimes in Turkey have increased a astonishing 400% over the past nine years, with "gender-based violence" now the leading cause of death for women ages 15-44. At the same time Atatürk's secular legacy is more and more under threat (via):
According to Human Rights Watch the violence against women in Turkey is endemic. This human rights agency has documented “brutal and long-lasting violence” against women and girls in Turkey by husbands, partners and family members, while the survivors struggle to find protection. Human Rights Watch cites a study of Turkey’s Hacettepe University showing that 42 percent of women “experience physical or sexual violence inflicted by a relative” at some point in their lives.
Despite Turkey being a modern state where reforms to help women have been made, men and family members of the victims still accuse women of being raped to discredit them. Honor suicides of women and honor killings of females by family members are frequent.
Turkey is moving quickly from a secular state to an Islamic state, jeopardizing women’s rights even more. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said: “I don’t believe in equality between men and women.”According to Spiegel, during the Women’s day in 2011, when confronted with the statistics that honor killings have increased 14-fold, Mr Erdogan said that the acts of violence against women are few. His statements caused outrage in Turkey and abroad.
The rapid Islamization of Turkey under Erdogan, threatens the human rights of women and girls, Turkey gradually is becoming more Islamic and less tolerant.
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