Turkish family minister deems alcohol main cause of violence against women

Turkish Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık has stated that “About 70-75 percent of the causes of the violence against women are alcoholism.”

Thursday January 26 2023 11:40 am

Duvar English

Turkish Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık on Jan. 25 deemed alcohol the main cause of violence against women.

“About 70-75 percent of the causes of the violence against women are alcoholism,” Yanık said during a press conference in capital Ankara, according to reporting by ANKA News Agency.

“We do not have any weakness regarding legal regulations, but we sometimes have difficulties with implementation of them. Maybe we have a problem caused by the institutions and organizations, but mostly due to social reactions. So let me tell you something very simple, for example, alcohol. “About 70-75 percent of the causes of the violence against women are alcoholism,” she stated.

Turkey has made moves in recent years to lessen protections for women. In July 2021, the country formally withdrew from the Istanbul Convention (the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence), a move that advocacy groups say was a major setback for women in the country. Turkey was the first country to sign the Convention back in 2011.

Some 334 women were murdered by men in 2022, according to the We Will Stop Femicides Platform.

On the other hand, Yanık said they cannot “normalize homosexuality.”

“Homosexuals are also our citizens. Protecting their rights is another thing. It is the responsibility of the state and the state cannot compromise on this. But on the other hand, we (the government) cannot normalize homosexuality or accept it in the public sphere,” she added.