Femicides in Turkey by Kayra Yazıcı

Margaret Atwood, a feminist author, once said “Men are afraid that women will laugh  at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” Turkey gave women the right to vote in  1934, before most world countries. In adverse, women killings, rape and violence against  women has been more common than most world countries. According to research and statistics,  women killings in Turkey have increased by approximately %300 in the past 13 years. %48.4  of these women were killed by their husband, which is known as “intimate femicide”. Femicides  may be common in Turkey, but what are the reasons and the source of it? 

 The economical graph of Turkey in the last 13 years is in contrast to the graph of women  killings in the recent years. While the economy gets worse, women killings start to multiply.  But there are more important and deep-rooted causes to women killings. These causes being  the difference in culture, family pressure and social pressure and most importantly,the  difference in education and patriarchy. Most femicides happen because of misogyny, the hatred  for women, and most misogynistic people believe in patriarchy, the superiority of men over  women in society. In eastern Turkey, housewife culture is very common. Turkish society says  that women should stay at home and cook food for men who work. The problem starts when a  woman can’t make food one day because of something out of her control like intense pain, there  being no food in the household etc. When their husband finds out that they didn’t make food,  they beat their wives because they didn’t do their “duty”. Patriarchy is rooted in the past, the  one-sided and patriarchist communities in the past and men having a sense of possession over  women. Education levels affect this too. %44 percent of people in Turkey who are between the  ages of 25-34 left school before high-school. Most femicide perpetrators are people with low  level education. Another important reason is the justice system being non-deterrent. For  example, a woman named Aleyna Çakır was found dead at home on 3 June 2020. After the  research of the forensic medicine department of Turkish police, the evidence was tied to a man  named Ümitcan Uygun and was later confirmed that he was the killer. But he didn’t go to jail .  Then on 3 August 2021, Esra Hankulu was found dead at her home and the forensic medicine  department found that she had a head trauma from a hit. Then the other people at her home  confessed and told the police that Ümitcan Uygun was there too. Then he was finally arrested  but just for 4 years. Another example of the justice system being insufficient and unsatisfactory  is Turkey opting to leave the Istanbul Convention which is a convention towards protecting  women amongst Europe. This decision of Turkey received a lot of backlash in social media but  Turkey’s decision stayed the same no matter the protests. In conclusion,the mindset of the  people, the economy, the difference in education, the culture and the non-deterrent justice  system all affect femicides. 

 There are precautions that could be taken to lower the risks of femicides happening. The  most important cause is education because good education can improve culture, society, boost  the economy, prevent misogynist and patriarchal ideas and cultures. Surveillance and the  sensitivity of society can be improved about femicides. The justice system can be improved and  made more deterrent, new laws could be introduced to make women feel more safe and prevent  possible femicides from happening. Non-governmental organizations who defend women’s  rights and stand against femicides could be supported by the government. In summary, people should be more sensitized about the topic and women who are affected or are under the risk of  a possible femicide should be supported by the people and the laws. 

To sum it all up, the roots and the causes of femicides are the economy and the justice system,  the mindset and culture of society, patriarchy and misogyny which all lie in the lack of  education. The person who refers to violence first has already accepted defeat.