Over 1,000 incidents of violence against women were recorded in the north last year and the figure has reached 957 as 2025 draws to a close, reports showed on Wednesday.

In addition, 36 sexual offences were committed against minors in the north in 2024, Turkish Cypriot chief of police Ali Adalyer said during a discussion on the budget at the ‘parliamentary’ finance committee, the Cyprus News Agency reported.

The figures discussed at ‘parliament’ were described as “alarming” by women’s groups in the north. In a joint campaign to highlight the issue, several organisations issued a statement under the theme: “We are not silent, we are not afraid, we are not submissive”.

The statement was issued to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25.

The women’s groups highlighted that according to police data, in the last five years, four women have been murdered, while 2,072 suffered physical violence.

“The number of complaints remains consistently high,” the statement added, with 1,065 incidents in 2021 and 1,024 in 2024 in addition to the 957 seen this year.

In addition to beatings, the data includes dozens of cases of sexual harassment, rape and kidnapping.

As part of the protests, a march was held that ended in front of ‘parliament’.

Representative of the organising committee Ulfet Kral said that economic collapse and impoverishment were exacerbating violence, while she slammed the weakening of social support mechanisms.

The demonstrators called for the creation of shelters for women and the implementation of the Istanbul Convention, while criticising the allocation of funds for religious affairs instead of prevention policies.

As the women’s groups demonstrated outside, inside ‘parliament’, the police chief made his case for the requested budget of eight billion Turkish lira (around €16 million), which was approved.

According to Turkish Cypriot online media, Adalyer, responding to questions from ‘MPs’, Adalyer argued that creating the impression that “the country is unsafe” was not correct although he admitted the existence of problems and asked for time to meet the needs for personnel and equipment to make a difference. For instance, the allocated budget, he said did not even meet the need to replace police vehicles where needed.

The Republican Turkish Party’s Sami Ozuslu questioned how dozens of undeclared weapons enter the north and how armed attacks are carried out.

He made particular reference to the increase in threats against journalists, denouncing an incident where a journalist and their family received threats against their lives.

Chairman of the Community Democracy Party Zeki Celer said security had “broken down”.

He said that people were arriving on tourist visas and committing crimes and he warned of the risk that mafia-like practices were becoming entrenched.

Later, in a written statement, ‘prime minister Unal Ustel said the security forces were on the ground and that the fight against crime “continues with determination”.