As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, Turkish women still have difficulty getting support for combat against domestic violence. This is the conclusion of a one-day conference titled 'End Violence Against Women' hosted by local daily Hurriyet in Istanbul. Although the issuing of laws and regulations was catching up with the Western societies, their enforcement still lagged behind. Coordinator of the United Nations Population Fund Gender Program Meltem Agduk, who attended the meeting, said about one- fifth to one-third of women world-wide suffer from physical and sexual violence, there wasn't a significant difference in rates of domestic violence between Turkey and the West. 'It is not that Turkish women suffer more violence than the rest of the world, our greatest problem is the inadequacy of our support,' Agduk said. The greatest development of women's protection over the past 20 years is that women now had a greater sense of getting assistance for abuse, she added. Habibe Yilmaz Kayar, President of Legal Support for Women ( Kahdem), told Xinhua that while legislation for women's protection has increased greatly since 2002, there was still an obvious lack of monitoring. The role of NGO's was critical, she said, referring to the new Penal Code ratified in 2004 which was considered by many a leap forward in women's protection. Dilsaz Padar, manager for the Kadikoy municipality's Women's Programs Coordination Center, told Xinhua that Istanbul's central Kadikoy district was a leader in offering women's protection, providing not only shelters and education services but also psychological and legal consulting services. She said it was in 1994 that Kadikoy established its first consultation center to provide education on women's rights and citizenship to newly arrived migrant women. She attributed Kadikoy 's progressive policy to the 'higher level of education amongst Kadikoy residents and their increased involvement in local government.' The Kadikoy municipality will host a Women's workshop on March 11 and 12, which she sees as the first step towards 'bringing women into the system and increasing awareness from the grassroots. ' Vuslat Dogan Sabanci, head of the acting board of the daily Hurriyet, called for an end to violence against women. She said methods to prevent violence, especially against women, would take more than shelter homes and education, 'we should first liberate the women in their minds.' 