"Get Well Soon" by Batuhan Sarıdede
“I don’t know if she is a girl or a woman”
on Dilşat Aktaş
“The left alone either goes to the drummer or the zurna player”
on the murder of Münevver Karabulut
“Isn’t your job at home enough for you?”
on the job request of a lady
“Turkish women are the ornaments of their houses”
on Turkish women
“Women are flowers”
on all women
These are all that some overentitled men dare to utter in Turkey. They are the central threat facing women and girls in my country.
“Whereas one half of the society remains chained to the land, is it possible for the other half to rise to the sky?” said Mr Mustafa Kemal Ataturk- the founder of Turkey. Yet, he also conveyed many times that “Superstitions must go.”. The real question here- considering the question of women empowerment in Turkey- is that “Did superstitions go as Ataturk proposed?”. I sincerely consider myself a living proof of the fact that they indeed did not go anywhere. Women and girls are still subject to tremendous superstitions that prevent them from reaching their full potential, which ideally is no different than that of men. Yet, all those problems are since there are not enough of women who genuinely strive for tackling the issue. Unfortunately, men predominantly- and ironically- seem “fit” for legislation concerning both men and women. I thereby think that the biggest challenge facing women and girls in my country is men feeling entitled to make decisions on what a woman or a girl is, should act like, and shall not be.
Turkey- the country that I have lived in throughout my life- serves as a rather ambiguous example for the agenda of women empowerment. My country has seen a myriad of political stance shifts starting from the death of Mr. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. From being extremely open and explicit on women empowerment, Turkey started to become a nation of abstinence on even uttering the words “gender equality”. Yet, stemming from its diversity, Turkey is an entity of diversity and multi-culturalism. The rulers thereby cannot be explicit on degrading a certain portion of the society- especially when the portion in question constitutes a literal half of the population. The current stance frankly involves a tremendous amount of contradictions within itself. When the leading party is priding themselves on having women representatives in the National Assembly, the statements made do not add up with the aforementioned so-called “source of pride”. “Media outlets are overblowing events. Violence against women is due to selective perception” dared to utter a female politician who is allegedly supposed to represent the “Family and Social Policies” of Turkey. We are mistaken.
Men degrading women’s rights as a means of subjugation further go on to show how decision-making lacks female partake. Out of all the presidents of Turkey up to date, there have been only one female prime minister and no female presidents of Turkey. Yet, it is not a case of females not being nominated. It rather is a case of a male being seen as more fit for such a powerful job as the societal norms imply. In the most recent elections, Turkey has seen perhaps one of the most impactful female-led presidential campaigns to existing. Meral Aksener- the founder of the Good Party in Turkey- ran for office. Yet, considering all the hard work she has put into her presidential campaign as all nominees did, her being an outlier was not well received by the ones in the office. “She lost her control” was the response of the president at the time who also was running for a second term. The thing with such a statement is that it was not her that lost control. It was the ongoing president who was not enjoying the partake of a female for a power position. Therefore, for him, she was “out of control” as their ideal female model did not match with such a strong and independent figure regardless of the political stances involved.
Women’s rights marches being cancelled by men, the legality of abortion being debated on by men, the availability of birth control decided on by men, domestic violence being intentionally understated by men; thus, the notion of what a Turkish woman is/ should be stemming from men… The list goes on as only men go on to partake in Turkish politics. This is what my country faces and most definitely what it does not need at all. The decision making is allegedly done with females’ influence present, yet all I have ever seen in Turkish decision making authoritarians consist of men and men only. When Turkish decision-making authorities are dismantling sparks of gender equality in the nation, how come the Turkish is expected to resist the subjugation imposed? I guess that is the point of the administration: to rise to the sky with one half of the society remains chained to the land.