Figures shared by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP) show that 285 women were killed by men in the first ten months of 2025. In the past month alone, 19 women were murdered, and 22 others lost their lives under suspicious circumstances.
Women’s organizations report that physical, psychological and digital violence remain the most common forms of abuse, filling the gap left by the absence of unified state statistics. Halide Türkoğlu, spokesperson of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Women’s Assembly and Member of Parliament for Diyarbakır (Amed), told ANF that this rising violence can only be addressed through the fight for an equal and free life and through democratization.
Türkoğlu noted that women stand at the center of the peace struggle and added: “The struggle for peace is also equivalent to the struggle against violence.”
Peace must become social
Türkoğlu said the women’s meetings organized by the DEM Party Women’s Assembly, along with the connections forged through women’s struggle in social spaces and the debates carried out in these forums, form an essential pillar of ongoing peace efforts. Türkoğlu said, “Alongside the ‘Women’s Initiative for Peace,’ we see that socialist, feminist and many other women’s organizations also take a stance that affirms peace, and we need to develop political approaches that consider how peace will be reflected in everyday life.”
Türkoğlu also said: “With the call issued on 27 February, Mr. Öcalan’s ‘Call for Peace and a Democratic Society’ assigns a responsibility to everyone. When we speak of peace, we are referring to a process that includes democratization. Problems cannot be resolved when peace does not take root socially, and the slow pace of the process stems largely from this.”
Security-focused policies leave women with no room to breathe
Halide Türkoğlu said the current government approaches the issue through security-focused policies, a framework that offers neither the peoples of Turkey nor women any space to breathe. Türkoğlu noted that this approach continues to deepen the crisis and added: “In every women’s meeting we hold and in every institution we engage with, we discuss how peace must become social. This issue can no longer remain in the hands of the government alone. Society needs to speak, individuals need to take responsibility and institutions need to play an active role. It is not enough for political parties to simply have representatives on the commission; they must bring this discussion to the public. And peace cannot be achieved solely through parliament; a restorative justice approach is indispensable for this process.”
Türkoğlu pointed to the importance of society confronting this process, saying that years of polarizing politics have shaped everything through hostility and that the government’s policies are directly tied to this dynamic.
Türkoğlu underlined that women possess significant experience in peace processes and continued: “We may not have been included in the commission, and they may not have listened to women’s organizations. But women must expand the peace struggle in the field, in the streets, in their homes and in their neighbourhoods. The struggle for peace is also equivalent to the struggle against violence.”
What can stop violence is women’s struggle
Halide Türkoğlu said that as war policies deepen, violence against women has intensified and has become a political tool that erodes society. She pointed to the transformative impact peace can have on people’s lives.
Türkoğlu stated that democratization, the women’s freedom struggle and the institutionalization of an ethical life free from violence are all possible through peace. She said, “The fundamental force capable of building these spaces is, once again, women’s struggle. We need genuine democracy, because even though every country declares itself democratic, social and political realities often reveal deeply antidemocratic practices. The struggle for peace is also a struggle for democracy, and women are among its principal actors.”
Türkoğlu concluded with the following remarks: “In a society where women can live freely and as equals, discriminatory and polarizing politics lose their ground. What will stop violence and what will create the laws and conditions for an equal and free life is women’s struggle.”