ISTANBUL

Turkish authorities have detained a 28-year-old woman for murdering her husband out of "honour" after he repeatedly beat her and tried to force her into prostitution, reports said Friday.

Cilem Karabulut admitted in testimony to police killing her husband Hasan Karabulut, 33, in the southern Adana region with a pistol stored at home.

"Why do women always have to be killed? Men can also be killed. I killed for honour," the Hurriyet daily quoted her as saying in her testimony to the police.

The cause has sparked huge media attention in Turkey, in particular because of the defiant demeanour of Cilem Karabulut as she was taken to court on Thursday handcuffed by two female police officers.

KILLING WOMEN

Giving the thumbs up sign, she wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a slogan in English: "Dear Past, thanks for all the lessons. Dear Future, I am ready."

Reports said that the murder took place on Wednesday afternoon and Cilem Karabulut called the police to give herself up.

She said that her husband had repeatedly beaten her in the past and then ordered her to become a prostitute.

The pair had a one-and-a-half year old daughter but were already estranged at the time of the killing.

"I killed my husband because he constantly beat me and feared he would lead me to prostitution, drug crime and that he could kill me," Hurriyet quoted her as saying.

Turkish authorities acknowledge there is a grave problem of violence against women in the country, in particular with women killed by their husbands and close relatives.

Violence by women against their husbands is by contrast far rarer.

According to the non-governmental Platform to Stop Violence Against Women, 286 women were murdered in Turkey in 2014 and 160 so far in 2015.