Intimate partner femicide in Eskisehir, Turkey 25 years analysis.

INTRODUCTION: and Objective: Femicide can be defined as violence caused by gender discrimination which results in the death of a woman. In this study, the characteristics of the femicide cases of the last 25 years that have been encountered in Eskisehir, Turkey will be evaluated. It is intended for this article to make a valuable contribution to the existing literature on femicide by adding new data.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Female subjects in Eskişehir who were killed by their partner (husband, boyfriend, ex-husband or ex-boyfriend) during the 25-year period between 1992 and 2016 were included in this study. Sociodemographic data, characteristics of the case, autopsy and toxicological findings, the proximity of females to the murderer, causes of violence, type of battery (effective action), and causes of death have been evaluated for this study by examining the autopsy reports and the investigation files belonging to the cases.

FINDINGS: It was determined that in the Eskisehir province, 148 women were victims of femicide in 25 years, and it was also observed that the number of cases increased every year. The cases were generally associated with the age interval of 19-29 years old (38.5%), and 23 (15.5%) of them were 18 years old or younger. Women were most frequently killed with a sharp object (n = 73, 49.3%). The killers stated during their trials at the court that the most frequent reason why they killed their partner was due to their wives demanding to divorce them or to terminate their relationship (n = 91, 61.5%).

CONCLUSION: It is observed that the numbers of femicide cases are increasing day by day in this city. Femicide is directly related to violence against women. Although there are laws in Turkey to protect women from being subjected to these kinds of violence; in reality many failures are encountered in practice. Women who are subjected to violence complain about it, but it seems that the legal units concerned may not be able to adequately protect women. It is considered that the authorities do not fully understand the significance of the problem. There is a need for studies involving multi-centered more data related to violence against women and femicide.