A survey of more than 10,000 Turkish citizens revealed that “Nearly 25 percent of the Turkish women have been beaten up severely, many of them constantly, by their husbands or other members of their families,” said Istanbul University Professor Necla Arat.
Results from the study, conducted by the non-governmental social research group Association to Promote Contemporary Life, were released Saturday at a conference in Osmaniye.
Arat said that social pressures often make women afraid to file charges against those who beat them. “The survey shows that intro-family violence is a major problem crippling Turkish society,” she said. Arat also reported that 28% of the country’s women are illiterate and urged members of Turkey’s parliament to pass laws protecting women from family violence.
