Turkish minister receives award for app to help women fight domestic violence

By Baris Seckin

ROME (AA) – Turkey’s interior minister received an award Thursday from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean in Rome, Italy for an app developed by the Turkish government to help women deal with domestic violence.

The Women’s Emergency Support Application (KADES), developed by Turkey’s Interior Ministry, provides women with a hotline to report such violence and direct law enforcement officers to the scene.

Speaking at the award ceremony at Italy’s parliament, Suleyman Soylu said that KADES is only one example of the precautions taken by Turkey to prevent violence against women.

“Thank you very much for honoring KADES with an award at an international level. Receiving an award has given a much greater responsibility to our colleagues who have worked hard for this application and successfully implemented it. The main reason for this responsibility is not the award, but the fact that we can meet on a common ground, because violence against women is a crime against humanity,” Soylu said.

Soylu said this “sincere and solution-oriented cooperation” will contribute to increasing international cooperation on other humanitarian issues such as disasters, climate, migration, drugs, terrorism and cybercrime.

-Migration

Soylu said the migration issue has been challenging for everyone around the world since 2010.

“There are four million refugees in Turkey. Some two million Afghans are waiting at the Iranian border to cross into Turkey and then Europe. There are also six million people waiting in and around Syria,” he said, adding these should not be considered border problems or problems for bordering countries.

“If we see these issues as border issues, if we see them as pressing issues between Turkey and Greece, if we see them as issues between countries, we will face greater challenges in the future,” he said.

“That's why it's very unfair to squeeze global problems into certain regions,” he added.