MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – There are only 145 women’s shelters with a capacity of 3,482 across Turkey. According to Turkey's Municipality Law (Law No. 5393), metropolitan municipalities and municipalities with a population of more than 100,000 must open shelters for women and children. Other municipalities may open shelters for women and children based on an assessment of their financial means and service priorities. Despite this article, the number of women’s shelters in each city is not more than one. Ezgi Çelik, volunteer of the Purple Roof Women's Shelter Foundation (Turkish: Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı) said that the number of women’s shelters is insufficient in the country while the number of women being subjected to violence increases every day. She also emphasized that many women, who stay in women’s shelters, have to return to their homes where they are subjected to violence after being subjected to maltreatment in the women’s shelters.

‘The capacity of the existing shelters is insufficient’

She defines women’s shelters as the places established to protect women, who escape from domestic violence and intimate partner violence. “Women’s shelters are not guesthouses for women; they are the places where women take shelter to escape from violence. As NGOs, only our foundation has a women’s shelter in Turkey,” she told us.

Stating that municipalities and the Ministry of Family and Social Services also have women’s shelters, Ezgi Çelik thinks the number of women’s shelters in Turkey is insufficient while the number of women being subjected to violence increases every day.

“There are only 145 women’s shelters in a country with a population of 80 million. This number is insufficient because the number of women, who are subjected to violence, increases in the country every day. The capacity of the existing shelters is also insufficient,” Ezgi Çelik told NuJINHA.

‘No professional social work is carried out in the shelters’

Speaking about the insufficient capacity of the shelters and the policies that do not allow boys to stay in shelters with their mothers, Ezgi Çelik said, “Effective activities must be done in the shelters for both women and their children. The shelters should inform the women victims of violence about their rights and provide necessary support to women so that they can rebuild their lives.”

She added, “Shelters are temporary places for women. When we look at the situation of state-run shelters, we see that women only spend their time without receiving any other support. Because, no professional social work is carried out in the shelters. Mostly, women are not informed about their rights. Women staying in these shelters sometimes face maltreatment. So, they prefer to return to their homes, where they are subjected to violence. Due to policies, women’s shelters become places where women only spend their time and then leave without taking a step to rebuild their lives. These shelters are like prisons for women. Women facing maltreatment without receiving any support have to return to their homes, prisons.”

‘We struggle to establish a perspective protecting women’

Speaking about Turkey’s municipality law, Ezgi Çelik said:

“According to the law, every municipality with a population of more than 100,000 must open shelters for women. However, Turkey has only 145 women’s shelters now. As feminist women and women’s organizations, we struggle to establish a perspective protecting women, respect women’s decision without judging women. And we make suggestions to have a system based on this perspective.”