Luck by Cemre Samur
It’s dark outside, I am on my way home from school. With every step, the excruciating adrenaline intensifies. My hand hurts from the tight grip I clutch my phone in, while trying to call my mom to prove that she is waiting for me. Even if she does not pick up the phone, I can still act a phone call and convince the furtive man following me to not to hurt me, since it would be tracked. As I wait for her to pick up the phone, the sound of steps gets closer and the dark sky lets me down by covering everything around and leaving me with paranoia. Is it just me or the news that I’m exposed to on a daily basis? Luckily, she picks up the phone. “Hi mom. Yes, I see you. I’m coming.” I start running to the random woman on the street. No, she is not my mom, but it helped the duplicitous man to swerve to another street.
Luckily, my mom picked up the phone. Not every woman is as lucky as me. 4-year-old Leyla who was found raped and dead was not as lucky as me. 7 suspects were released right after the trial. Although Regional Court of Justice objected to the release by stating the release was against law and procedure, no action was taken. The victims of Osman Çallı were not as lucky as me. He had murdered 4 women including his wife and pregnant sister in Belgium. Although he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Belgium, he got released in Turkey, where he was to serve the rest of his sentence. 15-year-old Sezgi who went to get a packet of chips and got kidnapped, raped and murdered by strangers was not as lucky as me. The three murderers were released soon after they were sentenced 1 to 5 years of prison. These are the names ingrained in my memory alongside the fear of looking up and the names of thousands of others. Besides, since when is remembering the brutal ways and the names of the women slaughtered by men and overlooked by justice luck, while trying to get home safely?
On May 11, 2011, Turkey was the first country to sign the Istanbul Convention, a treaty on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. On March 20, 2021, Turkey withdrew from the Convention. Thousands of “joking” tweets flooded twitter, claiming they would be raping and chopping every women they see into pieces. These were no jokes. Depriving women from protection encouraged those “predators” to act upon their unscrupulous thoughts. Over 500 women have been murdered since the withdrawal of Istanbul Convention- that is only 11 months. This number was 412 in 2020, 289 in 2016, and 66 in 2008.
Why has it increased so rapidly? The answer the one-man regime in Turkey. Legislation, enforcement and jurisdiction are merged together and has become a possession of the president. The lack of check and balance enable the one-man to enforce the opium of the people. Mass control and dogmatism created by religion has been favored. Although Turkey is a secular country by law, the regime empowers disregarding the law. By following a religious book rather than the constitution -and twisting the verses to serve himself-, one-man is able to justify the rape cases that involve hundreds of children who were sexually harassed by teachers at religious schools.
By the time someone reads this essay 3125 children will be exploited. 60 women will have been murdered in Turkey. Over 14 million women will have been exposed to violence by men, 252 women will be sexually abused,. Many of these cases will be closed immediately if only the victim finds the courage to report to the police and get blamed with the question: “What were you wearing?” Still, we can fight. The most crucial solution is to vote. If we unite and vote the injustice out, it will be reminded that people are in charge and no inequality can be ignored. Until then, we will advocate for women’s rights without fearing the bigoted enforcement. If we stand up for each other together, they will eventually run out of cells to lock us up. And one day, no rapist nor murderer will have the courage to threaten a woman and say “If I kill you, I will be released two days later— only if they decide to arrest me in the first place.”