Şırnex – The number of femicide and sexual abuse cases have been recently increasing in the Şırnak province. Two days ago, the dead body of a child named Firdevs Babat was found in the Hezil River. Sakine Kültür, Firdevs Babat and Mihriban Şengil are just some of the women and girls who were brutally killed this year in the city. According to the local sources, many sexual abuse cases have been covered up in the city by the intervention of opinion leaders or village guards.

She was kidnapped and sexually abused

After the killing of Firdevs Babat in the Uludere district of Şırnak, the women in the district claimed on social media platform that a man named R.B., a relative of Ahmet Babat, who killed Firdevs Babat, kidnapped and sexually abused a child. After the claims, we got in contact with local sources and they confirmed the claims. After the incident was heard, R.B. has reportedly put pressure on the victim’s family to marry the child but the child refused to marry him.

The incident was covered up by an opinion leader

Local sources told us that the victim’s father was also in favor of marriage and the incident was covered up by the intervention of an opinion leader in the region. The victim’s family decided to not file a criminal complaint against the rapist after receiving some money from him.

“Increasing femicide and sexual abuse cases raise concerns”

We spoke to Güler Tunç, a member of the Free Women’s Movement (TJA) in Şırnak, about the increasing femicide and sexual abuse cases in the city. Pointing out that there are very serious policies behind the increasing violence, Güler Tunç stated that special war policies carried out in the region are felt not only in the cities but also in districts and villages.  “Special policies have been carried out in the region to increase the number of femicide, sexual abuse and rape cases. Although Şırnak had the lowest rate of gender-based violence and femicide cases; however, the recently increasing number of femicide and sexual abuse cases raises concerns. In the last seven months, two women were killed in Uludere. Mihriban Şengil was killed by her husband and Firdevs Babat was killed by one of her relatives.”

“They want Kurds to kill Kurds”

Indicating that the situation has been normalized by including families to these policies, Güler Tunç said, “Such policies affect families and tribes. These special war policies caused the killing of İpek Er. We should see what kind of policies the state has been carrying out against Kurdish women and Kurdish young people. They want Kurds to kill Kurds. In Kurdistan, women are killed and raped by village guards and night watchmen. All NGOs should raise their voices against what is going on in Şırnak.”