In 2025, at least 294 women were killed by men, and 297 women were found suspiciously dead.

2025 Annual Report*

As We Will Stop Femicides Platform, we have been recoding data on femicide since 2010.

Is it the Year of the Family, or the Year Women and Children Were Ignored?

2025 was declared the ‘Year of the Family’. Throughout the year, the political establishment's family-focused policies took center stage. The discourse on ‘the family’ was presented as a value that strengthens society, but in practice, it turned into a framework that restricted the lives of women and children.

The core line of this policy was clear: women should withdraw from the public sphere and be confined to the private one and womanhood should be reduced to the role of motherhood. Women’s participation in the workforce was redefined not as a right, but in ‘appropriate’ forms. Through practices such as part-time work, women’s lives tried to be confined to the home; their economic independence tried to be undermined. While the removal of women from the public sphere was marketed as a ‘favor’, inequality deepened. Moreover, in 2025, women were most often killed in their own homes: 61% of women were murdered in their homes. The place described to women as 'home’ continued to be the place where women were killed. Policies that confined women to the private sphere either ignored domestic violence or attempted to push it out of the politics by labeling it as ‘private’.

In the ‘Year of the Family’,  women continued to be killed. In 2025, at least 203 women were killed by male family members. Those who sanctify the family made the violence women faced within the family invisible. The discourse established in the name of ‘the family’ often silenced women’s experiences and pushed perpetrator’s responsibility into the background.

Children’s lives were also devalued under the shadow of the same discourse. In 2025, at least 25 girls were killed. Those who prioritize the family continued to ignore the deaths of children; when the real issue was protecting the image of ‘the family’, children’s right to life was sidelined.

This was not enough; the political establishment increased its heteronormative pressure. Concepts such as ‘gender’ and ‘sexual orientation’ were targeted, and official directives were sent to institutions to exclude these terms. The language of equality tried to be suppressed, discrimination was normalized, and the lives of women and LGBTIQ+ became even more restricted.

Control over women’s bodies also became part of this agenda. Even how women give birth was interfered with. Football players were made to promote ‘natural birth’; women’s personal decisions were turned into a political spectacle. The insistence on wanting to have a say over women’s bodies signal a politics of domination, not equality.

2025 was declared the 'Year of the Family’, but for women and children, this year went down in history as a year in which killings continued and neglect became institutionalized. Those who sanctified the family ignored the women being killed within the family and the deaths of children. We did not accept this.

The lives of women and children cannot be reduced to propaganda slogans, showpiece policies, or the label of ‘the family’. We reject this system that confines women to the private sphere; we continue to stand for equality, freedom, and life.

Impunity Policies, Chain of Negligence: Suspicious Deaths of Women are the Work of the Government

Suspicious deaths of women increased in 2025, even surpassing femicides. In a significant portion of these deaths, effective and independent investigations were not conducted. Women’s suspicious deaths were quickly dismissed as ‘suicide’ or ‘accident’; in most cases, obligations to collect evidence, resolve inconsistencies, and identify those responsible were not properly fulfilled.

The political authorities stated, “There have been no unsolved murders during our term”. However, 297 suspicious deaths of women occurred this year alone. Over the past five years, at least 1,267 suspicious deaths of women have been recorded, and most of them remain unresolved. As the cases in our data that remained ‘suspicious’ for years were later revealed to be femicides, we saw once again the vital importance effective investigation. This year, only 12 suspicious deaths from previous years were resolved. Those responsible for investigating suspicious deaths spent their energy on other agendas instead of investigating these deaths: they were bust arresting young people in Saraçhane and going after those who spoke out for democracy and secularism. Yet the same public resources could have been used to uncover the truth rather than cover up suspicious deaths; protection orders could have been enforced rather than being left on paper.

In 2025, at least 23 women were killed despite having protection orders. Those responsible for enforcing protection orders were not held effectively accountable. Furthermore, 17 women were killed by law enforcement officers this year; those whose duty it was to protect women's right to life became the perpetrators of the murders themselves.

Under the new penal enforcement regulation, a large number of convicts were released from prisons. One of those released killed Rojda Yakışıklı shortly after his release. This picture is the result of an approach that fosters impunity and lawlessness. According to our data, this year 39 perpetrators of femicide already had criminal records; despite this, they continued to be released and violence was reproduced.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court concluded that the investigation into the death of 11-year-old Rabia Naz Vatan was “carried out negligently”. Rabia Naz’s death remains suspicious; just like Rabia Naz, the deaths of many women and children have been left suspicious due to negligent investigations. When effective investigations are not conducted, the truth does not come to light; justice is not served.

We demanded that every suspicious deaths of women be effectively investigated, protection orders be fully enforced, and a genuine accountability mechanism be implemented for all public officials with duties and authority. We continued to object to the closure of suspicious death cases as ‘accidents’ or ‘suicides’, and to perpetrators exploiting legal loopholes and penal enforcement regulations to commit further violence.

This year, the government amplified the situation marked by increased attacks on elected representatives and political repression. It narrowed the space for democracy, suppressed freedoms, and arrested those seeking justice. As seen in Saraçhane, many young people who spoke out for their rights and freedoms were detained and arrested. But while it was arresting young people, it released perpetrators through a penal enforcement regulation. This increasingly harsh approach towards social opposition, coupled with the doors opened to perpetrators of violence, further deepened impunity.

As the We Will Stop Femicides Platform, we never gave up our fight despite this. We continued to stand side by side in the squares, in the corridors of the courthouses, in the courtrooms, on campuses, in the streets, and in the midst of life itself. We did not abandon the cases that were sought to be closed, we did not allow suspicious deaths to be covered up, we did not allow women's right to life to be made a bargaining chip. We strengthened our solidarity; we responded to every new attack by saying “We are here” in an even louder voice. Because we know: This system will change; women will survive.

DATA HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2025

In 2025, 69 women were killed on the pretext of wanting to make decisions about their life.

In 2025,294 femicides were committed, and 297 women were found suspiciously dead. Out of 294 women, 69 were killed on the pretext of wanting to make decisions about their own life, such as wanting a divorce, refusing to reconcile, refusing to marry, or rejecting a relationship, 29 women were killed on economic pretexts, 1 woman on the pretext of hate and 16 women under other pretexts. The reason behind 179 femicides could not be determined.

Women were most often killed by men within their families.

Of the 294 women killed in 2025, 104 were killed by the man they were married to, 32 by the man they used to be married to, 28 by a relative, 28 by the man they were with, 25 by an acquaintance, 24 by the man they used to be with, 18 by their son, 14 by their father, 7 by their brother, 1 by her employer, 3 by a stranger, and 2 by others. The relation of the perpetrator could not be determined for 8 women. This year 203 women were killed by a male family member.

Women were most often killed in their homes.

108 of the women were killed at their homes, 50 in the middle of the street, 15 at their workplace, 11 in a public space, 7 in a car, 5 in a deserted place, 3 on a waterfront, 2 in a field, 1 in an hotel and 3 in other places. It could not be determined where 17 women were killed. 61% of the women killed this year were killed in their homes.

Women were mostly killed with firearms

222 of the women killed this year were killed with firearms, 113 with sharp objects, 33 by strangulation, 14 by being beaten to death, 3 by being burned to death, 1 by being pushed from a height and 1 with another weapon. It couldn’t be determined how 7 women were killed.

57% of the women killed this month were killed with firearms.

The rate of femicides committed with firearms has shown a steady and uninterrupted increase over the past five years: In 2021, 48% of femicides were committed with firearms, while this rate rose to 54% in 2022, 55% in 2023, 56% in 2024, and 57% in 2025. This means that today, not just one in two femicides, but the majority are committed with firearms.

This increase clearly demonstrates that individual armament is not being controlled and that it paves the way for violence. Even though the government claims that “there is no individual armament”, we live in a country where perpetrators of femicide can easily obtain weapons online. The data tells us that as access to weapons becomes easier, death becomes more closer to women. The fact that even a 20-year-old can pick up a gun and go kill someone today shows that these are not an individual exceptions but a structural problem.

We conceptualize femicide as the killing or forcing into suicide of women and girls across the life course, from embryo to fetus, infant to child, adult to elderly, by a man, under the pretext of their gender or their actions deemed contrary to perceptions of gender identity. 79 of the women killed this year were young women aged 25-35.

In 2025, a total of 23 women had protection orders at the time of their death. These protection orders, which are issued by the state and must be implemented, are a lifeline for women. However, 23 women were killed because their protection orders were not implemented.

The cautionary decision status of 258 murdered women cannot be determined. There is a problem in women's accessibility to institutions where they can obtain a cautionary decision.

Information on women's employment status is unavailable. We believe that this important data should be taken into consideration by the members of the press.

According to the data available this year, of the women killed, 43 of the women were employed, and 13 were unemployed.

According to the data we were able to access, 143 of the 294 women killed this year had children and 5 of them were pregnant. It could not be determined whether 121 women had children or not.