ZEYNEP PEHLİVAN

News Center- The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention was opened for signature on May 11, 2011, and Turkey was the first country to sign the convention. The treaty is the first legally international binding instrument on preventing and combating violence against women. However, on March 20, 2021, a Presidential decree announced the country’s withdrawal from the convention. The decree was issued at midnight and it sparked anger in the morning.

Violence against women in Turkey was already at alarming levels and withdrawal from the treaty protecting women against the violence sparked outrages in society. Women and LGBTI+ people took to the streets to protest the decision. On the same day, Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić issued a statement, Turkey‘s announced withdrawal from the Council of Europe‘s Istanbul Convention on violence against women is devastating news, she said in the statement. Many organizations such as UN Women, TÜSİAD (Turkish Industry and Business Association), Bar Associations, European Women's Lobby, ROKS, (National Organisation for Women’s Shelters and Young Women’s Shelters in Sweden) and WECF (Women Engage for a Common Future) also issued statements.

Even if Turkey withdrew from the convention, the convention is still in force. But unfortunately, women have been directed to family courts when they apply to police when they face violence and their demand to get a restraining order is usually rejected by the courts. According to the convention, a six-month restraining order can be issued against the violent person to protect the victim. However, such kinds of protection measures have been put into cold storage in Turkey after the withdrawal decision.

Even if women’s organizations emphasize that the convention has vital importance in preventing male violence, some groups agree with the withdrawal decision claiming that some articles in the convention are incompatible with the social and family values in Turkey. As women have kept defending the Istanbul Convention in many cities of Turkey, they have kept following such questions. As NuJinha women’s agency, we have prepared an article series about the increasing violence cases and the restraining orders.

In the first article, we focus on stories of women, who were killed, sexually abused, or subjected to violence in the last months in Turkey.

She was six months pregnant when she was killed

17-year-old Sezen Ünlü was killed with a sharp object by her husband on March 27 in Izmir when she tried to leave her. She is only one of the women, who were killed in the last months in Turkey. She was six months pregnant when she was killed. She tried to obtain a restraining order many times but she was not protected and killed by a man named Anıl Yolum (her husband). Before being killed, she reportedly told her father, “If I die, donate my eyes and organs.”

He entered the house despite the restraining order

Arzu İlhan Koca, who lived in Istanbul, was killed with a sharp object by her husband on April 11. Even if she obtained a restraining order against her husband, Göksel Koca forcibly enter the house and killed Arzu in front of her four children. This shows us that the restraining orders haven’t protected women due to impunity practices.

Semiha Peker was going to work

Unfortunately, many women become the victims of femicide due to obsessive “ex-boyfriends”. Living in the Salihli district of Manisa province, Semiha Peker was shot dead by her ex-boyfriend while waiting for a car to go to work. Semiha was a factory worker and had a child. She was buried on her birthday (February 24). “We always watched the news about femicides on TV with sadness; we never thought it would happen to us one day,” Semiha’s brother Reşat Peker said during the funeral.

She filed criminal complaint many times but she wasn’t heard

Ayşe Tuba Arslan divorced her abusive husband. She was attacked in Eskişehir province by her ex-husband using a chopping knife. She was seriously wounded and taken to a hospital. After she struggled for her life for 44 days at the hospital, she died.  Before being killed, Ayşe filed 23 criminal complaints against her ex-husband Yalçın. Ayşe wrote in her petition found in her bag after being killed that;

“I have no power to endure the violence and rape anymore. I’m afraid, he will kill me. I receive death threats from this person. Will you help me after I am killed?”

Lawsuits were opened for Ayşe’s five applications; but no disincentives were ruled by the courts. Those who violate a restraining order will immediately be subject to three days' imprisonment, says Act No. 6284 dated 8 March 2012 to Protect Family and Prevent Violence against Women in Turkey. Yalçın violated the order 23 times but he went unpunished.

She was killed by her ex-husband

42-year-old Filiz Kaplan was shot to death by her ex-husband in Mersin province while she was going to work. Mother of two, Filiz filed criminal complaints against her ex-husband and demanded to get a restraining order but she couldn’t obtain it. At the courtroom, Filiz’s son Gökhan Kaplan said, “My mother died in my arms.” This sentence hasn’t been forgotten.

He supposedly wanted to make peace

Gül Gülsüm was killed by a man named Fikret Çakmak in Istanbul’s Çatalca district. Unfortunately, she became the subject of a brutal murder. Fikret Çakmak wanted to talk with Gül Gülsüm claiming that he wanted to make peace with her. But he forcibly took her to a deserted area and choked her to death. Gül Gülsüm had reportedly obtained a restraining order before being killed.

Selvan Acar was killed with a knife

The story of Selvan Acar is still remembered. Mother of two, Selvan was killed with a knife by her husband in Muğla province. Tanju Acar forcibly entered her houses despite the restraining order against him and killed her. Selvan Acar had been received death threats from her husband for months before being killed.

Nurtaç Canan also obtained a restraining order

Nurtaç Canan filed a divorce lawsuit and obtained a restraining order against her husband Ragıp Canan for receiving death threats from him. She was shot in her leg by Ragıp. Nurtaç wrote with her blood that “Mother, father, Ragıp shot me, don’t feel sorry” when she was wounded. Nurtaç is saved and alive now. Ragıp has been jailed pending trial. The hearing of the trial has been held this month.

TOMORROW: Those who had to kill to not be killed…