TÜİK cannot hide the truth

İlayda Kaya

Male violence in Turkey is increasing by the day, with new femicides added daily. The government and the authorities not only fail to take effective steps against violence but also embolden perpetrators through measures that restrict women’s rights. TÜİK’s newly released data on violence against women, shared for the first time since 2014, exposes this grim reality.

Yet the data’s omissions and inconsistencies clash with the figures compiled and publicised by women’s organisations. These organisations say, “The released data do not match figures on violence and femicides.” The “Türkiye Kadına Yönelik Şiddet Araştırması, 2024” (Turkey Study on Violence Against Women, 2024), carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Family and Social Services in cooperation with Marmara University and the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), was conducted between 18 November 2024 and 31 January 2025 through interviews with 18,275 women aged 15-59. The research presented the types and rates of violence women experience. For the first time, data on ‘digital violence’ and ‘stalking’ were also included.

According to the report, “at any point in their lives”, 28.2% of women experienced psychological violence, 18.3% economic violence, and 12.8% physical violence. These were followed by 10.9% stalking, 8.3% digital violence, and 5.4% sexual violence. The report also noted that one in two women hides the violence she experiences. The study’s key findings include:

• Physical violence most common among women aged 35-44: lifetime exposure to physical violence was highest at 14.7% in this group.

• Psychological violence high among divorced women: 62.1% of divorced women reported psychological violence, 42.5% economic, and 41.5% physical violence.

• Economic violence rises as education decreases: among women with no formal education, the rate reached 31.8%.

• In digital violence, “a stranger” ranked first: 62.3% of perpetrators were strangers.

According to TÜİK’s new report, only 12.8% of women experienced physical violence. Women say TÜİK’s data is incomplete and inconsistent: “The 290 femicides in the first nine months of 2025 alone disprove this rate.”

• Stalking: “a stranger” was the perpetrator in 39.6% of cases.

In the past 12 months, the findings were as follows:

• Psychological violence leads: 11.6% of women experienced psychological, 3.7% digital, and 2.6% physical violence, while 3.1% were stalked.

• High exposure among young women: the highest rates of violence were recorded among women aged 15-24, at 15.2%, with digital violence reaching 7.3%.

Dilara Kurtuluş, Member of the Left Feminist Movement

“We don’t trust TÜİK’s figures. Trying to fit the violence women experience into state statistics is manipulation in itself. They say 12.8%, but we know it’s far higher, on the streets, at work, at home, on campus. Because women in this country are killed every day, silenced every day. The reason the rate comes out this low is that women don’t even see violence as something they can ‘report’. They don’t apply because when they do, they’re either killed, blamed, or told ‘He’s your husband, he beats because he loves.’ Because the system itself is the perpetrator. In the courts, the police, the family, the neighbourhood, there’s a mindset that tells women to keep quiet, to ‘be patient’, ‘don’t divorce’, ‘don’t destroy the family.’ A government that declares a ‘Year of the Family’ and questions alimony rights has no intention of preventing violence. Their goal is to control women. This cannot be explained simply by saying ‘violence is widespread’. It’s the result of male state violence, patriarchy, the Islamist AKP government, and religious orders. The problem is not a few ‘violent men’; it’s a whole misogynistic system.”

Lawyer Canan Güllü, President of the Federation of Turkish Women’s Associations (TKDF)

“We need to discuss the perception of violence, understanding of gender equality, diversity of violence, and overlapping forms of violence among the interviewers and all those involved in this research. Even without this discussion, the resulting picture is already alarming. The data on divorced women reflect only those who were able to speak, there’s the invisible part of the iceberg. The 15-50 age range doesn’t cover early or forced marriages. Data showing that 48% of the 290 women killed in the first nine months of 2025 were murdered within their families make us question the credibility of these figures. Yet 2025 was declared the ‘Year of the Family’. This alone shows how misguided that decision was. We also see that rising violence in recent years and impunity have emboldened perpetrators. From now on, we demand that every five years, alongside the groundwork studies, data from women calling ALO183, judicial statistics from the Ministry of Justice, and femicide figures be made public.”

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled TÜİK gerçeği örtemez, published in BirGün newspaper on October 8, 2025.