The Politics of Femicide in Turkey

On the 6th of March, 2021 - 2 days before international women’s day - Ibrahim Zarap was caught horrifically assaulting his ex-wife in front of their 5-year-old daughter in the middle of the street. Ibrahim Zarap kept on hitting and kicking the ex-wife despite her being unconscious. The video that shows this horrific savagery was leaked to Twitter and after a vast public outrage and notions for justice he was caught. When asked about his motives, he simply replied “she threatened to hide my kid from me, this infuriated me and I was drunk.”

İbrahim Zarap is seen to be a supporter of the MHP in his social media posts.

On the same date, 92-year-old Hanım Pınarlı was raped and killed by her 23-year-old neighbor, the killer suggested that he can’t remember the incident because of his intoxication.

Aytu Çetin is being escorted to a courthouse in Aydın. The tattoo on his hand is the symbol of the ultra-nationalist MHP.

Today is the 10th of March 2021, there have been 68 femicides in Turkey since the year started, 33 of them being in February. News of women being tortured, raped, and subjected to anything that is coming out of their oppressor's sick imaginations does not leave our screens. There is a political undertone that is favoring men over abuse victims, enabling them as they feed the public hollowed-out versions of conservative values such as pride, dignity, and morality.

On the day the feminist march was held (which is traditionally troublesome as police intervention had been prominent in prior 8th of March protests) many were out in the streets. One of the slogans which was turned into a Twitter hashtag that initially gave me the idea to write this paper reads:

#KadınCinayetiPolitiktir

Femicides in Turkey are Political, says the hashtag. To understand the argument, I will be asking the question “ Does Turkish conservatism enable femicides and gender-based violence?” in order to find out if these politics have been holding Turkey under for almost 20 years and inherently degrading and oppressing women.

Women in Turkish Conservatism

Turkish Conservatism can be divided into a few sections which branch out into more specific groups. However, the groups and versions I will be linking with the normalized oppression of women will be the most common versions of this ideology. This ideology is based on the protection of “Turkish Family Values” and Islamic traditions.

The role of women within and under this ideology is highly based on gender roles. Within this gender-role, women are expected to look after the kids and be full-time mothers. Where she would stay home safe and hidden.

Women of career and high positions have been criticized by government officials for letting their “primary ” mission as mothers go. President Erdogan in one of his speeches said “a woman who has denied the task of being a mother is half a woman.” This statement itself is highly marginalizing women of different lifestyles. This directly targets this demographic group, a person who is not comforting with these values is seen as a lesser person.

After the latest events, AKP deputy Hülya Atçı Nergis, claimed that the problem of femicides is being "exaggerated" and that the number of men who get killed is 12 times higher than that of women. Also the new Imam of Hagia Sophia also claimed something similar to what the deputy stated. Women are being targeted because of their lifestyle and femininity that is out of the “Turkish family values” and gender roles. These claims are extremely tone deaf responses to the latest events. I assume they were aimed at anti-feminist conservative voters.

Unfortunately this degradation of women who choose to get out of this patriarchal oppressive system is normalized and even found its place in some of the Turkish sayings like “kızını dövmeyen dizini döver" which translates to “Who doesn’t beat their daughters will beat their knees”. This phrase implies that if you don’t oppress women when it’s possible, she will bring you shame. This is an extremely sexist and draconian statement. This insecurity that is rooted by severe toxic masculinity is fragile enough to not let women be liberated with the fear that the act would “bring them shame”.

Within this oppressive and primitive logic, the objectification of women is justified. The false understandings of values and ‘morality” are being normalized as the ruling party keeps demonizing women who do not conform. This demonization brings dehumanization of this group of women and the oppressors feel more comfortable taking action to “punish their immorality”. Due to the ruling party, meritocracy keeps having a shrinking role in Turkey as many individuals are getting appointed to positions they are underqualified for, which in turn makes it more comfortable for oppressors to continue committing these crimes. These political appointments of government officials killed the unbiased principle of law, resulting in men being favored and almost pardoned for what they have done because their sick justifications are convincing to these officials.

On the severity of the Istanbul Convention

Like Poland, conservatives in Turkey have been arguing that the Istanbul Convention is against their traditions and the lifestyle of the common people. Both governments stated they are willing to withdraw from the convention. The Istanbul Convention is the first legally-binding instrument which "creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women" and is focused on preventing domestic violence, protecting victims, and prosecuting accused offenders.

It characterizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination (Art.3(a)). Countries should exercise due diligence when preventing violence, protecting victims, and prosecuting perpetrators (Art. 5). The convention also contains a definition of gender: for the Convention gender is defined in Article 3(c) as "the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men". Moreover, the treaty establishes a series of offenses characterized as violence against women. States which ratify the Convention must criminalize several offenses, including psychological violence (Art.33); stalking (Art.34); physical violence (Art.35); sexual violence, including rape, explicitly covering all engagement in non-consensual acts of a sexual nature with a person (Art.36), forced marriage (Art.37); female genital mutilation (Art.38), forced abortion and forced sterilization (Art.39). The Convention states that sexual harassment must be subject to "criminal or other legal sanction" (Art. 40). The convention also includes an article targeting crimes committed in the name of so-called "honor"(Art.42).

Conclusion

Ideologies that are serving as tools to enable such atrocities seem to be uncompromising as they base their arguments on ethnicity, tradition, and culture. Turkish conservatism is being fed on patriarchy and inherent sexism as it enforces “traditional” gender roles on women. Women who reject these gender roles are dehumanized and ridiculed, which makes them easy targets for predators. When this dehumanization is enforced by the government and the government favors these oppressors with obvious legal bias, Femicides become political. Obvious injustice politicizes people, and when these politicized people are targeted like the 8th of March of every year, people get radicalized. The ruling party’s notions to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention due to the Turkish family values, degenerates and empties the meaning of these values, and if values are inherently against women, it proves these values are long outdated and incredibly harmful.

This article is dedicated to all the victims of domestic violence, especially Turkish women.