ISTANBUL On a Friday afternoon in early October, a crowd watched in horror as a young man stood atop Istanbul’s old city wall. He immediately threw the woman’s head off the wall. Then he jumped himself to his death.
The man had just killed his 19-year-old girlfriend.
Later, the Turkish police said that the man was also suspected of murdering another 19-year-old woman during the same day. It was the man’s former partner, whose throat the man had slit open, according to the police.
Enraged townspeople and women’s rights organizations organized demonstrations around the country the very next day. The hashtag #TurkishWomenAreInDanger trended in the messaging service X, Turkish women are in danger.
Violence against women and girls has been talked about in Turkey recently. Only weeks earlier, the same organizations were on the streets demanding justice for the 8-year-old Narin to Güran, who was found dead in a river in his home village of Tavşantepe in eastern Turkey. He had been stuffed in a sack and the body had been placed under stones.
The case has shocked the whole of Turkey – also because the entire small village has been completely silent about the fate of the girl. The girl’s family members are suspected of the murder.
The biggest threat to women comes from intimate relationships
In Turkey, men murdered 205 women in the first half of this year, according to the Turkish women’s organization Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracaçız.
The organization also considers 117 deaths suspicious. The name of the organization means “we stop femicide” in Finnish.
When a Turkish woman or child is the victim of a murder, the perpetrator is usually someone close to them. According to research up to 40 percent of Turkish women experience intimate partner violence at some point in their lives.
Also in Finland the number is high: about a third of women have been subjected to violence by their partner at some point.
Leyla Soydinç has worked for the women’s rights organization Mor Çatı as a psychologist for about seven years. Mor Çatı or “Purple Roof” runs shelters for women who are trying to get out of a violent relationship.
Soydinç says that he chose the job because of his personal experiences.
– All women have these experiences. This work is part of the healing process for me, he says.
However, Soydinç does not want to go into details because the topic is sensitive.
During her career, she has encountered countless women fleeing abusive relationships.
There are not nearly enough safe houses in Turkey
Mor Çatı just received the prestigious Hrant Dink human rights award for his decades of work.
The organization is the only private operator in Turkey that runs shelters. There are now 146 of them around the country. However, according to Soydinç, this is not enough, because there are not nearly enough public shelters.
– In Turkey, there is only about half of the amount according to the EU’s recommendations.
It is also difficult for women to get information about shelters and their rights.
According to Soydinç, what creates hope is that violence against women has been exposed a lot. The problem, however, is that people pay attention to it mostly only with visible cases.
The reactions of ordinary citizens are also worrying.
– Sometimes people start demanding that the culprits should be hanged or castrated. However, that would only legitimize violence, says Soydinç.
The organization has problems accessing statistics on violence against women and children. The Ministry of Family Affairs does not publish enough information.
– That is why we cannot assess whether violence is increasing. But we believe that the prevailing political situation affects support networks and the enforcement of laws.
Undermining women’s rights is domestic politics
Women’s rights have become an extremely politicized topic in Turkey in recent years.
In 2021, Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe, which aims to combat violence against women. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the AKP party defended the withdrawal by arguing that the agreement would be used to “normalize homosexuality”, which the government said was at odds with Turkey’s family values.
However, Erdoğan was also in power at the time the agreement was signed. At the time, her party strongly supported the initiative together with women’s organizations.
According to experts, the AKP is now trying to woo more conservative voters to stay in power in a difficult economic situation.
According to the AKP, existing laws are sufficient to protect women. Women’s Day marches, for example, have also been banned in Turkey for several years in a row.
– Family is increasingly at the center of social policy, not women, says Soydinc.
By this, Soydinç means the popularization of conservative values.
– The most important thing is to preserve the family structure. Women cannot be protected if violence comes from this family structure.
Stigma makes it difficult to talk about sexual violence
Rape, especially rape within marriage, is also a difficult topic in Turkey.
– Blaming the victims is common, so it is not so easy for them to open up about the subject, Soydinç explains.
The Mor Çatı organization also helps women get justice in Turkey’s difficult legal system.
The most important moment in Soydinç’s career was when she realized that, in addition to legal aid, it might just be important for women to be trusted and heard.
One of Soydinç’s clients fought in vain to get justice in a rape case. In the end, the court rejected the woman’s petition.
– I thought that he would become even more depressed. But he did say that he feels stronger now that at least one party believed him, says Soydinç.
According to Soydinç, there is a strong stereotype in Turkey that only women from lower educational and social classes face violence. There are also no differences between larger cities and rural areas, he says.
– Every woman can be a victim of violence, and every man can use violence against women and children, regardless of their background.