Turkish woman’s murder photo sparks outrage
Summary of story from Bloomberg, October 7, 2011
Haberturk, a leading Turkish newspaper, published a graphic photo of a stabbed woman on the front page of its print edition today, causing uproar on social media websites.
The photo shows a shirtless, bloodstained woman on a stretcher with a kitchen knife planted deep into her back.
The 38-year-old mother of two was murdered in the town of Manisa by her 45-year-old husband after leaving him to escape domestic abuse, Haberturk said.
According to a May 4 Human Rights Watch report: “Turkey’s flawed family violence protection system leaves women and girls across the country unprotected against domestic abuse.”
The report said Turkey has strong protection laws in place, yet: “gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials [make the system] at times downright dangerous”.
The number of reported murders of women in Turkey has increased 1,400 per cent in the past seven years, according to the Istanbul Bar Association for Women’s Rights.
The Association also said that more than 85 per cent of all applications for divorce in Istanbul are related to violence.