International Womens Day
Femicides are political
On International Women´s Day, once again we are celebrating the place women take on earth, not only framed with a list of different roles they have but as half of humankind who have been ignored, abused, and killed systematically through history. It is true that we have made significant progress, but only an approximation of what is right does not create justice, especially when it is a matter of life and death, which is still the case for too many women.
There is a reason why we cannot celebrate this day, not in a real manner. Today we still need to point out how women are discriminated against, targeted, and victimized because they are women. Because what being a woman entails is taught by the past generation towards the next, women´s today not only owe this to themselves but for many generations to come. So that they can have the opportunity to hope for anything they want.
Femicides in Turkey
Today I would like to talk about the reality of women in Turkey and how regular and normal it is to be killed by your relatives, (ex)spouse, boss, bus driver, teacher, or just a random man who sees you. In 2024 in Turkey, 394 women were victims of femicides and there were 258 suspicious deaths of women. Femicides are the killing of women on account of their gender. The concept of gender comes with a strict set of rules, expectations, and mostly limitations, and staying in line with those does not carry any guarantee of safety or peace. Challenging them, on the other hand, has costs in different sizes and forms, however, it is the only option to have a chance of influence.
Who is responsible?
Istanbul Convention, or Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence is the first legally binding international document creating a framework to combat the violence targeting women. It was signed by 45 countries and the EU after being opened to signature in Istanbul in 2011. Turkey became the first country to sign and the only country to withdraw from it.
With the policies increasingly focusing on “family” as opposed to women´s rights, the government has been spreading insecurity and unsafe feelings progressively for years. Generations of women became unable to trust as their suspicions have come true too many times for others. The trauma caused as a result of femicides and other means of gender-based violence, is increased by the armed forces in most cases. 20 of the murdered women in 2024 had active protection orders, meaning the armed forces failed to protect them. Among the domestic violence cases in 2023 that reached legal authorities, deterrent attitudes, coercion to reconcile and withdraw their complaint, and even violence by law enforcement officers were reported.
Along with all these, the women are banned from protesting in Istanbul on the 8th of March this year again. It is not allowed for women to remember the ones who could not make it because this opportunity, as well as any other, has been taken from them. Nevertheless, there will be many protests creating a small change at a time in years to come. Women will be chanting the same slogan: Istanbul Convention lives along! İstanbul Sözleşmesi yaşatır! With the contribution of the We Will Stop Femicides Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu), Purple Roof Women´s Shelter Foundation (Mor Çatı Kadın Sığınağı Vakfı), and many other invaluable collective help actions, no woman have to be alone in this fight. Despite weak policies, societal stigmas, and men who believe they are entitled to behave as they please, women will keep working on making progress, and have the lives they deserve.
Written by Deniz, volunteer at avinjo.