Born Guilty by Ece Karagöz

What was she expecting when going out at night all by herself? Why was she wearing such a skirt anyway? Well, why has she been silent all this time, and now she is talking? These guys are human too; everyone can make mistakes! The men even apologized, what more to do? All these questions, posed by Turkish society after hearing a “gossip” of rape or a “story” of femicide, normalize the inhumane actions towards women and reflect the perception of women’s permanent guilt. While the patriarchal culture favors men in every aspect of social life, the inadequacy of legislation opens the way to staying indifferent to women’s physical and mental suffering in Turkey. 

Whether or not a woman's death is excused or turned into hearsay, the facts remain: In 2020, 300 women were killed by men, and 171 suspicious women deaths were recorded. These numbers are not statistics; these are 471 real, tangible human beings who were meant to enjoy their lives. Indeed, it is mere luck that I wasn’t number 472, but my meaningless name can be a part of the list earlier than tomorrow. These are the first “statistics'' officially published by the Ministry of Interior. Before 2020, the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services, who were responsible for sharing femicide details, chose to stay silent. This situation completely undermines the battle of justice for women, masking transparency and possibly leading to subjectified cases. As a recent example, in Meryem U.’s rape case, her photograph in which she wears a miniskirt was used as a trump: the accused men were released on judicial control and later acquitted on behalf of lack of evidence although scars were found on Meryen U.’s body. 

If you think that the misery finishes after the rape, you are living under the superficial privilege that patriarchal society gave you. It is like falling into a parallel world; the victim becomes guilty. While the victim's personal information is almost always specifically stated on the media, such information of the perpetrator is usually never given, making the main source of the violence invisible. More, with the dominant patriarchal culture parroting the same tired lines `(“she is just trying to get attention with this story,” or “nobody would like to be with her anymore,”) “guilty” women are marginalized from society, which creates mental issues and self-loathing. In order to overcome the culture that blames women for being harassed, the legislation should be highly specific rather than up to interpretation, and this change in the justice court can even shift the paradigm of social stigma.

One solution to challenging the patriarchal system is The Istanbul Convention, an international treaty that brings detailed integrity to women’s rights and aims to stop any kind of violence against women, is a way of saying “I don’t want to die”. Serving a similar function, Law No.6384 is based on the applications made to the European Court of Human Rights, which was executed with the complaint of late, incomplete, or non-execution of court decisions. Possessing the power to be national solutions, these legislations are on the verge of sinking into oblivion. While an article in Law No. 6284 includes lessons on women's rights and gender equality in the primary and secondary education curricula, the practice is proceeding in the opposite direction. We saw the Ministry of Education cancel, in less than 24 hours, this very article that could reshape Turkish culture with early education. Under the protection of the Istanbul Convention, it is critical to provide psychological and legal counseling, medical assistance and support services, a sufficient number of shelters, and free telephone helplines for women. However, while there should be women’s shelters in 237 municipalities, only 32 municipalities have them. As there are no sanctions, municipalities do not prioritize and stay indifferent to this issue. Although it is stated under Istanbul Convention that violence against women should be considered a crime and punished, only 54 men out of 711 were arrested in 2020. In my country, women that feel safe are in extinction. Now, the question is not how to be a woman, it is how long is it possible to stay as a woman. 

We don’t have the patience to count the number of women expected to die for the effective implementation of the Istanbul Convention and Law No.6284. The first step is to acknowledge that current Turkish legislation is not functional anymore in providing justice for women in this patriarchal culture. After that, nonelastic and specific laws should not only be adopted but also brought into force effectively in the lawsuits. Ah, and a last thing— Can we die without being “guilty,” please?