Turkey: Over 300 Women Victims of Domestic Violence in 2019

 Women hold placards as they march against domestic violence, in
Paris, Saturday, Nov, 23, 2019.  (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Women hold placards as they march against domestic violence, in Paris, Saturday, Nov, 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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Turkey: Over 300 Women Victims of Domestic Violence in 2019

 Women hold placards as they march against domestic violence, in
Paris, Saturday, Nov, 23, 2019.  (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Women hold placards as they march against domestic violence, in Paris, Saturday, Nov, 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Domestic violence crimes committed against women have seen an alarming increase in 2019, with over 300 women losing their lives after being subjected to violence in Turkey.

According to statistics by Turkish organizations active in the field of defending women's rights and supporting women against violence, 302 women were killed and 532 others were severely injured by men in 324 day, from January 1 till October 20, 2019.

According to reports released by those organizations on Sunday, at least 12 women are hospitalized in dangerous conditions caused by domestic violence.

The reports revealed that 198 of the victims were killed by a husband, boyfriend, ex-husband, or ex-boyfriend, and 31 others were murdered by a brother, father, or son in the so-called "honor killing".

The figures also showed that 20 women were killed by a neighbor or friend, 8 women by relatives for different reasons, 19 women by the son-in-law or ex-son-in-law, one woman by the police, one by a parent of a student, and one by her employer.

The statistics show that the rate of domestic violence against women in Turkey has jumped to 75 percent over the past 15 years.

On September 28, human rights groups defending women against violence organized a march in Istanbul to protest against violence targeting women, during which the participants condemned "the failure of the government" in addressing this worsening phenomenon.

During the march, the protesting women shouted "stop killing women, do not stand still, do something to stop the violence."

The organization of the march came as a response to the recurrent incidents of violence against women, and mainly the murder of Amina Boulot, 38, by her ex-husband in August.

He stabbed her in her neck during a fight they had in a restaurant in Istanbul, and their 10-year-old daughter was there. The crime shocked the Turkish community, and still makes headlines in the local media until today.

After this crime, a video showing the stabbed woman, her hands on the man's neck and crying "I don't want to die," stirred a wave of condemnation among calls for more firm regulations aimed at putting an end to violence crimes committed against women.

The Turkish law gives the judges significant powers and provisions allowing them to reduce sentences of men violating women.

A Turkish women rights activist said Turkey was among the first countries to sign the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention), which came into effect in 2014. However, the convention didn't contribute to a stricter implementation of laws.

The court decisions in these cases are still loose, and judges can easily reduce sentences for many reasons such as good behavior, and being subject to provocation and severe emotions.



SpaceX's Private Fram2 Crew Returns to Earth after Polar-orbiting Mission

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is launched, carrying four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit on the Fram2 mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is launched, carrying four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit on the Fram2 mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
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SpaceX's Private Fram2 Crew Returns to Earth after Polar-orbiting Mission

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is launched, carrying four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit on the Fram2 mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is launched, carrying four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit on the Fram2 mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

Four private astronauts returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule after roughly four days orbiting the planet in a novel polar trajectory, walking out of their spacecraft with little assistance to cap off the Elon Musk-led company's sixth fully private space mission.

Since launching Monday night from Florida, the four-person crew, led by and paid for by Maltese investor Chun Wang, traveled in a circular orbit around Earth from pole to pole, passing over the icy masses every 40 or so minutes in a particular orbit that no humans have flown before.

During the mission, they conducted 22 research experiments largely focused on how the human body changes in microgravity.

The four-person crew included three of Wang's friends and associates: Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen, German robotics researcher and polar scientist Rabea Rogge, and Australian adventurer Eric Philips, Reuters reported.

Their Crew Dragon capsule had tightened its orbit around Earth Friday morning and splashed down hours later off the coast of California around noon EDT (1600 GMT), before the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft was hoisted out of the water by a SpaceX vessel and scooted under a shaded platform onboard.

As a final experiment, the crew exited Dragon without the delicate assistance from medical and support teams that astronauts usually receive upon returning to Earth. No stretchers rolled them out of the capsule, to demonstrate how well astronauts could walk off a spacecraft on the moon or Mars.

Spaceflight, particularly on missions much longer than the Fram2 flight, is known to reduce bone density and muscle mass, among other bodily effects that have been studied for decades by NASA with its own astronauts on the International Space Station.

Each crew member on Friday slowly crawled out of Dragon one by one, their flexibility seemingly constrained only by their flight suits, before standing upright with smiles.

'Went to bed, felt good. Laying down on a bed for the first time in nine months was pretty awesome.

"All four framonauts have safely exited Dragon unassisted," SpaceX said, referring to the crew.

SpaceX and its Dragon craft have dominated the nascent market for private orbital spaceflight, an area in which a key source of demand originally came from a small field of wealthy tourists. Dragon is the world's only privately built capsule routinely flying missions in orbit. Rival Boeing's (BA.N), opens new tab Starliner capsule has been held up in development.

In recent years, with Dragon flights costing roughly $55 million per seat, the spaceflight market - involving companies such as Axiom Space that contract Crew Dragon missions - has fixated more on astronauts from governments willing to pay the sum mainly for national prestige and bolstering domestic spaceflight experience.