With the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, which provides effective protection against violence and massacres against women, there has been an increase in violence and massacres against women. In the first 11 months of 2024, 57 women were murdered by men in Çukurova region. 34 women were found dead under suspicious circumstances. During the year, 57 women were murdered, 17 in Adana, 18 in Mersin, 13 in Antalya, 7 in Hatay, one each in Osmaniye and Burdur.

 

The names of 55 of the 57 women murdered in Çukurova region are as follows: Serap Biçer, Burcu Gezersoy, Fahriye Kaya, Zeynep Ece Aksay, İpek Akgün, Selma Abacı, Banu Uzun, Dilan Özdemir, Mervegül Bayer, Feray Balkan, Antika Ayer, Selma Çiftçi, Besra Kırmızı, Nursel Yılmaz, Türkan Abay, Nadya Zorlu, Şule Özlem Ural, Saniye Arslan, Seher Aktekin, Ayten Çağıran, Şükran Eba, Leyla Erat, Nihal Babayiğit, Hatice Çelik, İklim Altınsoy, Fatma Özel, Elif Avcı, Aynur Çilli, Pınar Bayrak, Derya Demir, Ayşe Dürüst, R.Ş., R. Z., Feriye Gözüala, Fadim Temirhanoğulları, Ayşe Koçak, Gülfer Öter, Sonay Öztürk Aslan, Ayşegül Sefer, Nimet Araz, Manal Kıyılı, Güldane Gerçek, Şenay Gerçek, Gaye Gerçek, Fatma Biricik, Sevgi Gezer, Fahriye Asena Eskikanbur, Elif Gözen, Ayşe Gökten, Hülya Ulumaskan, Aybeniz Top, Hale Akbaş Poyraz, Hayriye K., Merve Sağ, Leyla Çakmak.

 

Twenty-six of the suspicious deaths occurred in Antalya, three in Adana, two in Isparta and one woman each in Mersin, Hatay and Burdur.

 

Stating that violence against women, which takes its power from gender inequality, is a public health problem, Social Worker Belgin Işık stated that factors such as poverty, alcohol, mental illness, which are shown among the causes of violence against women, are not the causes of violence, but the triggers of violence. "What we really need to see is the desire of the man/state to establish tyrannical dominance over women arising from gender inequality," said  Belgin Işık.

 

'LAWS AND CONVENTIONS MUST BE IMPLEMENTED'

 

Pointing out that violence against women is not independent from the policies of the state, Belgin Işık stated that hundreds of women are murdered every year for this reason. Belgin Işık stated that the government should take sincere and decisive steps to prevent violence against women and give up misogynist policies. Belgin Işık said: "The government should return to the Istanbul Convention, implement Law No. 6284 effectively, give up its intention to touch the Constitution, the Civil Code and other conventions on fundamental rights that guarantee gender equality, and implement all laws and conventions that protect women.

 

Ceren Seyran İnan, Executive Director of the Association of Women Journalists, stated that there can be no legitimising reasons for the murders of women. Ceren Seyran İnan criticised the government's policy towards femicides and said: The overnight withdrawal from the Istanbul convention, attacks on Law No. 6284, and the excuses they call 'sacred family' are the guarantors of the spiral of violence."

 

'WE WILL FIGHT'

 

Stating that violence against women and attacks on women's achievements must be fought against, Ceren Seyran İnan continued: "The full implementation of protective and deterrent penal policies is one of the most critical stages right now. While we are swimming in a sea of lawlessness as a country, we need to prevent the backs of murderers from being patted on the back and incentivised by male justive. We need to come out of this order, where male-dominated policies are arm in arm with political Islam, with the struggle for women's equality."

 

MA / Abdulkadir Ayten- Hamdullah Yağız Kesen