Ruken Esen said that 100 of the 120 complaints submitted to the Kayapınar Women’s Consultation Center were related to violence, emphasizing that psychological and economic violence are increasing and that stopping violence requires a broader social transformation.
In recent years, violence against women in Turkey has risen significantly both in scale and in form. According to the “Turkey Violence Against Women Survey-2024,” carried out in cooperation between the Ministry of Family and Social Services and the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), 28.2 percent of women experience psychological violence at some point in their lives, 18.3 percent experience economic violence and 12.8 percent experience physical violence.
In the last 12 months, 11.6 percent of women were subjected to psychological violence, 3.7 percent to digital violence, 3.2 percent to economic violence and 2.6 percent to physical violence; the rate of sexual violence was recorded as 0.9 percent.
Furthermore, according to reports from the national violence-reporting hotline, 3,908 calls were received in 2024, and 92.5 percent of the reported cases were filed by women.
Forms of violence are not individual but societal
Psychologist Ruken Esen said that violence is not an individual issue but a societal one, adding that the solution must begin with educating the perpetrator and changing the judiciary’s approach toward perpetrators. Esen said, “Violence can be reduced by raising men’s awareness. The forms of violence we witness are not individual; they are societal.”
Working at the Kayapınar Municipality Women’s Consultation Center, Esen noted that during their current active period, 100 of the 120 applications submitted to the center were related to violence, and emphasized that psychological and economic violence are increasing day by day.
Esen also spoke about what needs to be done to stop this rise and the reasons behind the growing prevalence of violence, and referred to last year’s campaign titled “Our word is not over yet, we will stop violence together.”
Esen said, “This campaign was a beginning for us. After that, we went into the field, organized workshops, conducted home visits and received dozens of applications. More than half of these applications involve psychological violence, while economic violence is at its peak. These two forms of violence are invisible, yet they are the most widespread.”
Esen said thanks to their cooperation with the Bar Association, they provide both legal and psychological support and added: “What we see in the field shows us the following: women are now able to define more clearly that what they are experiencing is violence. But defining it is not enough on its own; when the mechanism does not function, violence continues as a cyclical process.”
We must transform the identity of masculinity
Ruken Esen emphasized that digital violence has increased significantly, especially among young women. Esen said: “Digital violence is not a new channel; it is another face of the violence we already know. We have provided training on this issue to both women and men. The most common question women ask us is: ‘If this is violence, what am I supposed to do?’ Men, on the other hand, say, ‘I didn’t realize I was using violence.’ Even this alone shows that the problem is societal.”
Esen said that the gender trainings they provide have also created transformation among men and added: “What we call masculinity is an identity built on power, dominance and control. We cannot expect violence to change without transforming this identity.”
Violence is produced not by individuals but by social mechanisms
Ruken Esen said that the recent rise in femicides in Diyarbakır (Amed) is not unique to the city and added: “Across Turkey, we are facing a femicide crisis. The media individualizes the issue by attaching pathological labels to perpetrators, but we know this: the producer of violence is not the individual, but the social mechanism that shapes that individual.”
Esen also said, “No man is born with a potential for violence; we create this potential through social roles, through the meanings we assign to masculinity, and through an identity equated with power. What we put into the suitcase we hand to a boy at birth is extremely important.”
We reached three thousand women during this process
Ruken Esen stated that the Women’s Solidarity Center carries out its work without distinguishing between rural and urban areas. Esen said: “We reached nearly three thousand women. We met in parks, organized workshops and visited homes. The point where women struggle the most is this: ‘What will happen if I file a complaint? What will this process confront me with?’ This uncertainty holds them back. The penal response to economic and psychological violence is especially weak. Women are rightfully saying, ‘Nothing happens anyway.’ Our work begins exactly at this point. We remind women that they have rights and that they are not alone.”
This cycle will not break unless a new system is built
Ruken Esen said that violence does not stem from a single source and added: “Violence feeds on the gaps in the law, the language of the media, the shortcomings of education and the pathologizing discourse of psychology. That is why a comprehensive struggle is necessary. Failures in legal processes create distrust among women. When the issue concerns women, the laws are not implemented. The language of ‘nothing happens from just once’ camouflages the reality. But unless a system is established that takes women’s statements as the basis and tolerates no form of violence, this cycle will not break.”
We must transform society
Ruken Esen concluded her remarks by saying: “Ending this femicide does not rely solely on empowering women; it also requires rethinking what masculinity is, how it is constructed and what sustains it. We must transform society. We believe in this, and we continue our struggle in this direction.”