Nearly 18,000 women took refuge in shelters throughout Turkey in 2014

Nearly 18,000 women took refuge in shelters throughout Turkey in 2014. (TodaysZaman).

A total of 17,792 women took refuge in shelters in 2014 due to violence or sexual assault, according to a report published by the Habertürk daily on Monday.

Of the women who took refuge in the shelters of the Ministry of Family and Social Policy, 16,681 were pregnant, either as a result of extramarital affairs or rape. Other pregnant women who reside at the shelters do so because their families refuse to accept their pregnancy. Many of the other women in the shelters are currently raising children there.

According to the ministry, all the women placed in the shelters were declared by courts to have been victims of physical, emotional, sexual or economic abuse. The ministry has shelters in all 81 provinces.

Women who were forced into marriages they did not consent to due to familial pressure also make up a large portion of the women who have taken refuge in the shelters. Furthermore, 249 children reside in the shelters with their mothers. Hmmm.....Motherhood is not only a 'career' in Islamist Turkey, it's also a fight for survival.