MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – In Northern Kurdistan, five women were killed in the last week. Three of the perpetrators killing women are public officers; one is a village guard, one is the head of the Special Operations Corps in Silopi,  and the other is a private security guard. The Women’s Rights Centers of 19 bar associations released a statement and said they would follow the femicide cases. Lawyer Öykü Çakmak, board member of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, noted that the perpetrators of killing women are mostly public officers and this is not a coincidence. “These people are able to kill women without fear because they are encouraged by the anti-democratic system and the policy of impunity,” she said.

“We closely follow the legal processes”

Underlining that the violence against women and femicide cases in the region have been at their highest in recent years, Öykü Çakmak stated that they, as the Women’s Rights Center of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, try to provide the necessary legal mechanisms to create a world without violence for women. Sharing her experiences from the cases they have followed in the recent years, she said that they closely follow the legal processes of violence against women and femicide cases.

“The punishments given to men are not deterrent”

“When men commit crimes against women, they are punished but the punishment given to men is not a deterrent. The perpetrators get strength from the passivity of the judiciary. The withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, the sexist language used by politicians and administrative officials and those who do not believe in gender equality also empower the potential perpetrators of violence. The perpetrators, particularly public officers, feel more powerful before the law and the judiciary because of the policy of immunity,” Öykü Çakmak told us.

“Femicide is political”

Emphasizing that femicide is political, Öykü Çakmak recalled the killing of Sakine Kültür by İbrahim Barkın, the Head of the Şırnak Province of the Special Operations Corps in Silopi. “Recently, we have witnessed how the perpetrators, who are public officers, committed crimes recklessly and fearlessly and killed women. The Republic of Turkey is a state built on monism. It was founded on a system based on Turkishness, masculinity and only being Muslim. The rights and freedoms of other groups such as women, Kurds and Alevis are ignored.”

“The perpetrators do not receive the necessary punishment”

“The perpetrators, who are public officers such as police or village guards, are armed by the state and they kill women without fear because they know they will be protected. They take strength from the country's anti-democratic government and the policy of immunity,” Öykü Çakmak said, pointing out that the public officers do not receive the necessary punishment although they commit crimes in the region.

Stating that they, as the women’s rights centers of 19 bar associations, will follow the femicide cases, Öykü Çakmak said, “As the women’s rights centers in the region, we unite against the increasing femicide cases. We will continue to work coordinately with each other.”