Three women seeking to divorce their husbands were murdered brutally on Thursday, one day after a civil society organization shared alarming data showing an increase in the number of murders of women at the hands of male relatives, but the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government's policies regarding women do not leave much room for surprise at the increasing rate of such murders, according to women's rights groups.

More than 100 women were killed in the first six months of this year, according to data from the We Will End Murders of Women Platform, which notes that the statistics are misleading. “We first tried to acquire data officially through the Right to Information Act, but we had never been sent accurate data [by state agencies],” said Gülsüm Kav, a representative of the Platform.

She said the platform now keeps its own monthly statistics, based on news reports and applications to her organization from families. Kav noted that the figures announced by activist groups or the state only show the tip of the iceberg.

“The government here, of course, is in a position to be blamed [for the high figures],” Kav told Today's Zaman. “They are not enforcing the law to protect women. They [the government] know how to take measures to prevent other things, but they don't do that for protecting women's lives. The most important thing is prevention, being able to protect women while they are alive. If that fails, then there should be an apt punishment during the legal process [in the aftermath of a murder]. There should be regulations that introduce more deterring punishments,” she said, noting that impunity remained a major issue for abusive males.

She noted that although women's organizations have pushed for life without parole to be included in the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) for the murders of women, this hasn't happened. “Men feel the power of the government, of the state behind them [when committing acts of violence.] She said the fight against murders of women can be won only if all segments of society unite and stand together against the murders. “I am not without hope. We need to combine our powers,” she said.

Hülya Gülbahar, a lawyer and a women's rights activist and the founder and former head of the Association for Supporting Women Candidates in Politics (KADER), also agreed that the real statistics on women's murders are at higher levels. She said according to a response from former Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin to a parliamentary query in 2009, 953 women were victims of murders in that year.
Gülbahar said later, Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Şahin revised that figure to 253. According to what Gülbahar says are the “real” figures, an average of five women are killed daily. “I call this a gendercide. They are decimating women in groups of five. There is a clichéd explanation about murders of women that not the numbers have increased, but the murders have become visible. This is not true,” Gülbahar said, noting that according to the figures provided by Ergin in 2009, the increase in the murders of women was 1400 percent in the first seven months of that year.

According to Gülbahar, there have been reported increases in violence against women across the world over recent years, but not at the extent that matches the hike in Turkey's rates.

Gülbahar noted that many women are killed by their husbands when they seek a divorce. “The Ministry of Family and Social Policies is currently talking about policies to prevent divorce. The government messages are always giving the message to society that getting divorced is bad behavior. Men receiving this message know that they will find all the social approval mechanisms behind them when they try to stop their wives from seeking separation.”

She said the statistics on female murders are a direct result of the government's attempts to impose its own conservative model of family on society. “Murders of women are the consequence of policies being pursued by the state,” she said.

In the latest murder cases of women, a woman was shot and killed by her husband as she was waiting at a bus stop in the Sancaktepe district of İstanbul on Thursday, while another woman was killed by her husband in Bornova district of the western province of İzmir later on the same day.

At around 8 a.m. on Thursday, while Sibel Karakaya was waiting at a bus stop in the İstanbul neighborhood of Sarıgazi Meclis, her husband -- Murat Karakaya -- approached her in his vehicle. The husband fatally shot his wife then fled the scene in his car. 

Murat Karakaya was later found dead in his car on Gelincik Street in the same neighborhood. According to the Cihan news agency, the man may have committed suicide soon after he killed his wife. 

The second incident took place in the Bornova district of the western province of İzmir on Thursday, when a man identified as Ayhan Aslan shot his 27-year-old wife, Şadiye Aslan, several times because he thought she was cheating on him. According to media reports, the couple started to argue over Şadiye Aslan's social media account early on Thursday. When Şadiye Aslan called her brother to take her from the home, Ayhan Aslan shot the woman several times in front of their five children. The woman died at the scene. Ayhan Aslan was detained by police who rushed to the scene after neighbors informed them about the incident. 

The third case was in Adana, when 34-year-old Dilek Balsak was shot in the stomach by her husband, 38-year-old İhsan Balsak, in his automobile. The killer ran away from the car and reportedly confessed his crime over the phone to family members. Police and witnesses found the mother of two in the front seat. Two months prior to the incident, Dilek Balsak was thrown out of a window from the second story of their apartment building by her husband, and had since left him and sought protection. İhsan Balsak had previously served 10 years in prison drug and firearm ownership related charges.

On Wednesday, two women were shot in Ankara by a male relative, and an elderly woman in Şanlıurfa province was killed with an axe by her husband of 52 years. 

These incidents come as additions to a disturbing tally of women in Turkey murdered by husbands, relatives or partners. Over the past five months, 114 women have become victims of violence at the hands of husbands, lovers or other male relatives, according to a recent report from the anti-gun violence Umut Foundation. 

Reports said, one out of every two women killed by men is killed by her husband. Out of the 114 murders, 60 were committed by the victims' husbands, 26 by boyfriends, eight by fathers-in-law, six by former husbands, five by brothers, three by cousins, two by fathers, two by the husbands of the victims' sisters, one by a son and one by a grandson.