The monthly violence report by the Jinnews Women’s News Agency revealed that 28 women were murdered in July, while 25 women died under suspicious circumstances. Most of these suspicious deaths were not covered by the media, and the investigations that were opened have failed to progress effectively.
Behind these deaths lie stories of violence, threats, and deep poverty. Despite allegations of abuse and intimidation, most investigations end in dismissal. This impunity encourages male perpetrators further and fuels the increase in suspicious deaths across society.
In Kurdistan, particularly in Van (Wan), where these deaths are also linked to special warfare policies, 14 women lost their lives under suspicious circumstances in just eight months. Cases that did not appear in the media are not included in this number. The rise in deaths has deeply worried women’s institutions and associations in the city.
Rojbin Bor, an activist of the Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad–TJA), underlined that these suspicious deaths are political and cannot be separated from femicides, offering her assessment of the situation.
There are bruises on women’s bodies
Rojbin Bor drew attention to femicides and suspicious deaths of women, emphasizing that these deaths are not individual but political. She said: “In suspicious deaths of women, the findings are visible even without investigation. Most of the women who were said to have ‘committed suicide’ had bruises on their bodies. The discourse of ‘woman and family’ reflects an approach that reduces women solely to the family. Woman is defined as someone to be monitored, controlled, and disciplined. In such a hierarchy, male mentality and male power believe they can do whatever they want to women.”
They call it suicide when a woman who went to the police dies
Rojbin Bor shared one of the cases as an example: “When a woman named Sinem Demir died under suspicious circumstances, we went to the scene and saw drag marks on her clothes and bruises on her body. Despite this, the incident was recorded as a suicide. Many women go to the police repeatedly, file complaints, stay in shelters, seek refuge with their families, and say ‘He will kill me.’ Yet when they are murdered, it is disguised as suicide. These women do everything they can to survive, but the state grants men impunity.”
The judiciary is not a deterrent
Rojbin Bor underlined that the judiciary fails to deter male violence. She said: “Today, men can easily say ‘I will kill you, I will only serve three months,’ because they know they will receive minimal sentences. The annulment of the Istanbul Convention and the targeting of Law No. 6284 have emboldened men. The judiciary does not punish male violence; it remains almost neutral. This gives men even more power.”
Mechanisms of struggle are insufficient
Rojbin Bor explained that they have established a network to combat violence, working together with the Human Rights Association (IHD), bar associations, and women’s organizations, yet she stressed that this remains inadequate: “Local projects must be developed to address women’s poverty, and centers to combat violence must be accessible 24 hours a day. Most importantly, the judiciary must impose deterrent sentences. Only then will men accept that women have the right to live equally.”