Role of impunity in murders of women and children in Turkey

While I follow the Parliament, trying to watch the General Assembly discussions on the 9th Judicial Package, my mind is in Diyarbakır. The updates coming from the trial of the murdered girl Narin Güran. As the state of the country is well known, it is impossible for a weekly column to focus on a single topic, as there is no single agenda. When Article 6 of the package was to be voted on in the Parliament last night, the session was terminated twice for lack of a quorum. Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Celal Adan, who chaired the session, almost held the vote backstage, but he couldn't decide whether the vote should be held in the ruling or opposition group, so he ended the session. Jokes aside, yesterday there were also frequent ten-minute breaks for the deputy group chairs to go to the back for a discussion. It is not an extraordinary situation, but it is important to show that inter-party negotiations are ongoing.

The fact that the session ended earlier than expected suggests that the negotiations did not reach a conclusion and were carried to the party leadership. As the off-agenda speeches continued, I heard CHP Tekirdağ deputy Nurten Yontar's one-minute speech about femicides, the October femicide report of the We Will Stop Femicides Platform, her objection to the system that imposes a man's surname on women, and the oppressive discourse and actions against women's decision-making about their lives, clothing choices, and behaviors. It is very valuable that these off-agenda speeches are made in favor of women's rights.

On the other hand, news from the trial of Narin Güran is also important. For example, Lawer Yelda Kocak, a member of the new executive of the Istanbul Bar Association, posted the following observation on her X account: When Diyarbakır Bar Association lawyers ask questions to the defendant Enes Güran, the defendant's lawyers often object to the questions, it is noteworthy that the same objections are not raised when the defendant Nevzat Bahtiyar is asked questions. It is necessary to conclude with one more quotation because it is clear that the hearings will continue.

“When lawyer Nahit Eren asked about the discrepancies regarding the timing, Enes asked if he could speak to his lawyer and Enes spoke to his lawyer. Enes said he would talk about torture. One of the defendant's lawyers stated that the defendants were subjected to torture at the police station.”

The murder of Narin Güran is important not only because it raises many criminological questions, starting with the search efforts, but also as a murder of a woman in the context of the Istanbul Convention. As a matter of fact, Ali Mahir Başarır, the deputy group chair of the CHP, is currently expressing his objection to the Narin Güran trial being held in a small courtroom despite its importance. These are the flawed actions that reach from the search stage to the trial stage. Many people, groups and representatives of institutions are trying to take part in the tiny hall to watch the trials closely followed by politics, the women's movement, bar associations and rights defenders. CHP Women Branch Chair and Osmaniye deputy Asu Kaya is also there with her team. 

Who committed this murder that stole the life of an 8-year-old girl and prevented her from pursuing her dreams, and why has it taken so long to find and identify the perpetrators? Will the reasons for these delays and the confusion created during the investigation phase be revealed at the judicial stage? This is one of the key cases in terms of preventing femicides, child neglect, abuse, and murder.

It is an indisputable fact that violence against women and children, especially girls, has reached the size of an iceberg. Femicides and child murders are only the tip of the iceberg. And we are only talking about the tip of the iceberg of gender-based violence in this country. And even this is enough to raise alarm. The We Will Stop Femicides Platform published its October 2024 report. Since the government and relevant ministries do not publish data even though it is their duty to do so, women's organizations have taken on the task of informing the public. Since monitoring is conducted through press monitoring, the platform prepares its reports based on news published in local and national media. If you ask why this background information is important, let me immediately remind you that the press in the country has been dying under the pressure of the government for years. Especially the local press faces pressures that prevent them from reporting on violence against women, femicides and child sexual abuse. On this occasion, we should take this opportunity to thank the newspapers and journalists who do their job and keep us informed despite all obstacles and difficulties. So, be aware that the report's statement that “48 femicides and 23 suspicious deaths of women took place in October” is limited to what is reported in the press.

October saw the highest number of femicides in the history of the platform’s regular reporting. For those who would like to read the names of at least 48 women, each of whom was torn from their lives because they took a decision about their own lives and attempted to implement that decision, I leave them here for those who want to read them one by one. Their lives were cut short because they wanted to exercise their rights. I think we owe them our respect by reading their names.

There is also a list of suspicious women deaths. The authorities do not provide information to the public about the suspicious deaths of women, which have been increasing since the pandemic. The only certain conclusion we can reach is that they are not natural deaths. Since they are on the suspicious death list, it is clear from police records that their deaths were not natural. It is also certain that it was not a traffic accident. So whether it was suicide, murder disguised as suicide, or an accident, we don't know. What we do know is that they were our sisters who were labeled as suspects and put on dusty files without sufficient investigation. Since the police didn't even bother to take the time to investigate, there is very limited information about our lives, about whom no justice can even be sought. At least let us spare enough time to read their names.

And let's think together, of course. Is the government deliberately increasing the list of suspicious deaths of women in order to downplay the number of femicides? Is it shifting the list of suspicious deaths to cover up the murders of trans women? The fact of impunity (not a perception but a fact) encourages potential perpetrators with the enforcement regulations, which are implicit amnesties, contained in a total of eight judicial packages that have been enacted in the past and are currently being implemented. In addition, since family sanctifying policies lead to the reinforcement of male domination, men in the family see themselves as appointed trustees over women. Rising anti-equality tendencies and gender-based violence pave the way for an increase in crimes such as femicide, child abuse and murder.

In the meantime, let me also note the good news from the Parliament. The issue of a woman's surname in Article 15 of the package has once again been removed from the proposal. The inter-party negotiations I mentioned at the beginning seem to have yielded a result. However, it is unclear for now whether this result will lead to surname equality. What is clear is that gender-based violence stems from gender inequality and that inequality in surnames shapes the social mentality as the main factor in this violence.