MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

 Amed – While women face gender discrimination in many spheres of life in Turkey, the state policies increase the cases of violence against women every day. There has been a serious increase in the femicide cases for 20 years when the AKP government came to power in Turkey; 334 women were murdered in 2022, according to reports released by women’s organizations. In the first two weeks of January 2023, 20 women were murdered by men. Women, who have been fighting for their rights in the country for many years, raise their voices against the policies of the ruling party everywhere.

Femicide

Speaking to NuJINHA, sociologist Mihriban İlbaş, board member of the Women State of Solidarity Association (DAKAH-DER) said that gender-based violence and femicide are the biggest problems of this century. “There may be a social basis for femicides because women are mostly killed by their partners/ex-partners or family members. However, the main reason for gender-based violence is the universal wrong culture; almost everywhere in the world, masculinity and motherhood are blessed. This highlights the roles of reproduction and double murders, which are sharply different from each other. All individuals who do not play these roles may face heavy sanctions by their society,” she said, pointing to the role of society in femicides.

‘Turkey ranks first on violence against women in Europe’

Pointing out that Turkey ranks first on violence against women in Europe, Mihriban İlbaş noted that the murder of 20 women in the two weeks of January shows that femicide cases increase compared to the previous. “The We Will Stop Femicide Platform announced that 334 women were killed by men, 245 more died under suspicious circumstances in 2022. According to the statistics of the OECD report on violence against women in European and G20 countries, Turkey ranks first in the report. This report also showed that the least developed countries such as Chile and Mexico rank last in the list, while developed countries such as Norway, Denmark and England ranked in the top 10. Therefore, this report shows that the level of development is not sufficient to prevent violence and that women-friendly policies should be developed to prevent gender-based violence.”

‘The struggle in Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey is similar’

Mihriban İlbaş mentioned that the government issues statements that support gender-based roles. “The women’s struggle against the Taliban in Afghanistan, against the regime in Iran and for the Istanbul Convention in Turkey is similar. As in many countries, as long as the political decisions do not aim to prevent violence against women, the same scenarios will be seen in all countries. The reasons for these scenarios to occur are; the practices that encourage perpetrators such as individual armament, impunity, censorship, and not carrying out effective investigations in femicide cases. Political decisions do not prevent violence but increase it.”

‘Women should unite and be in solidarity with each other’

Underlining that women can fight gender-based violence and femicide by being in solidarity with each other, Mihriban İlbaş said, “Women's empowerment, solidarity, organization, women's organizations, providing sex education for children and increasing visibility in the media can end violence against women. The media has an important role in reducing femicide cases. Women need to be visible in order to be empowered. Women should unite and be in solidarity with each other.”