This piece is a collaboration between The Press and The Statesman.

Femicide in Turkey

Black-and-white photographs of girls flooded Instagram in mid-July with the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted. So far, greater than 6 million girls have posted photos utilizing the hashtag and that quantity continues to extend. 

The pattern, initially from a 2016 problem to lift cancer awareness, reappeared with a brand new goal this previous month — a reminder of the femicide charges in Turkey and the significance of the Istanbul Convention, which was signed in 2011 to take measures that may forestall violence in opposition to girls, shield victims and prosecute the perpetrators. The problem has since picked up momentum, because of informative posts by Turkish activists and feminists from around the globe.

Turkish accounts began posting photographs utilizing the hashtag #Istanbulsozlesmesiyasatir, which interprets to “the Istanbul Convention saves lives.” The marketing campaign is a response to the Turkish authorities’s proposal to withdraw from the conference, although the nation was the primary to signal it.

Now, activists are criticizing Turkey for failing to correctly implement legal guidelines. 

“There is a lack of action and response against domestic violence in Turkey because the government believes that if men are taken out of the household, then the traditional family structures are broken,” Zeycan Rochelle, a Turkish philanthropist, mentioned. Her Instagram submit about femicide, compiled utilizing data from Turkish feminist accounts (@frabiaa, who’s an editor at The Statesman, and @minaonthemoon), went viral on July 27.

Many assault circumstances that make it to courtroom favor male perpetrators and result in lowered sentences. 

“The defense attorney recommends the man to show heavy remorse at court so that the judge has sympathy for them, which works most of the time,” Rochelle mentioned. “This is exactly why the Istanbul Convention is so important — because without it, there is no rule of law, there is no legal structure protecting women.” 

Talks in regards to the withdrawal from the Istanbul conference started when Deputy Chairman Numan Kurtulmus stated that the signing of the conference was unsuitable. 

“When our people has such an expectation, we cannot stay indifferent to this. As we have duly signed it, then it would be possible to duly withdraw from it,” Kurutlus acknowledged. He additionally acknowledged that the conference harms conventional household buildings. 

Following these feedback, President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a statement saying that if individuals wish to withdraw, then the federal government will comply. And so, feminist teams and activists began protesting on the streets and social media. 

The talks of withdrawal got here after the vicious murder of Pınar Gültekin, whose loss of life grew to become a logo amongst protesters. Gültekin was a 27-year-old Turkish pupil who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Cemal Metin Avci. According to post-mortem outcomes, Gültekin was crushed and strangled to loss of life. After killing her, Avci allegedly torched her corpse in a rubbish can and dumped her stays in a forest. He has since been arrested on murder fees. 

In Turkey, not less than 474 girls have been murdered in 2019 — most of them by present or former companions, relations or unrelated males who needed a relationship with them, in response to We Will Stop Femicides Platform, a Turkish rights group that screens violence in opposition to girls. The social media posts are supposed to show that protesters relate to and stand with the victims. 

“The Turkish population is so accustomed to seeing black-and-white images on either their phone, their television screens [or] on news outlets that say another woman has died and this is how,” Rochelle mentioned. 

The vicious homicide, together with the potential withdrawal from the conference, sparked protests round Turkey and posts on social media. According to social justice activist Can A. (@stopfemicides), who didn’t wish to use his final identify with the intention to keep away from being politically focused inside Turkey, the black-and-white photographs signify victims’ final photos, which are sometimes printed in newspapers. 

“People realized that they do not get punished for killing a woman,” Can mentioned. “Most of the time, murderers get out on parole. Knowing that there is not going to be any repercussions on their actions, I think it made people think that it’s okay for them to get away with it.” 

Femicide is a rooted downside in Turkey and has doubled since 2012, in response to the We Will Stop Femicides platform. An try to spotlight the difficulty in 2019 was made by Deniz Tekin, a Turkish artist. Tekin produced a 50-second portion of “Susamam,” a Turkish rap track discussing many issues in Turkey, final yr. Tekin’s contribution, devoted to girls’s rights and all victims of femicide, was known as “No One Ever Murdered Me.”

The line from “Susamam” is translated under. 

I wouldn’t know

I’ve by no means actually needed to defend myself

I wouldn’t know

I’ve by no means actually needed to fear a few youngster

No one ever compelled marriage

There was no abuse at residence

I by no means felt imprisoned in my own residence between 4 partitions

Never been indoctrinated

Never been displaced from residence

Never felt your infinite hatred

Never been burned alive earlier than

Never had sibling

I’ve by no means been afraid of my brother

Never been compelled to drop out

NO ONE EVER MURDERED ME.

The pattern has now gone international, and many ladies around the globe have come collectively to indicate their solidarity on Instagram. Protests with the intention to spotlight the Istanbul conference unfold worldwide and even happened in New York on Aug. 9. The talks of withdrawal from the Istanbul conference are nonetheless ongoing. Other nations, similar to India, have additionally joined in to unfold consciousness of femicide inside their international locations. 

Femicide in India

Rape and sexual violence have been beneath the highlight in India because the rape and homicide of Jyoti Singh in 2012, when the 23-year-old was repeatedly raped by eight males on a personal bus, mutilating her physique and later throwing her out of the shifting automobile. Despite international humiliation purchased upon the nation in 2012, the variety of rape and sexual violence circumstances has elevated. The India Crime and Safety report of 2020 acknowledged that greater than 32,500 circumstances of rape have been registered, which implies there have been about 90 circumstances per day. 

On Aug. 17, a 17-year-old woman was raped by two males who burnt her body with cigarette butts.  The sufferer was discovered by her dad and mom after she had gone lacking the earlier evening. The two males have been later arrested and charged with rape in addition to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, which got here into effect in November of 2012. 

On Aug. 14, a 13-year-old woman’s body was present in a sugarcane subject. She was raped by two males from the neighboring village who later killed her by strangulation and left her physique within the subject. The dad and mom of the woman mentioned that after they discovered her physique, her eyes have been gouged out and her tongue was break up, although the police denied any indicators of mutilation. 

Both rapes occurred in the identical week and in the identical state of India, Uttar Pradesh. The accused have been arrested, however situations like these are widespread in India. 

Indian stars keep their silence on issues like rape out of worry of political penalties. However, large Bollywood stars like Katrina Kaif and Sonam Kapoor, together with many others, shared their black-and-white photographs in solidarity with girls in Turkey. 

With 12 million women aborted within the final 3 a long time, India has been combating a battle with feminine infanticide for a very long time even earlier than the nation was colonized. A 2018 economic survey reported 63 million girls are lacking from its inhabitants and a pair of million go lacking yearly due to abortion, illness, neglect and insufficient vitamin. Bigoted societal practices, similar to dowry — the switch of parental property, cash, and presents on the marriage of a daughter — and kinship buildings make having a feminine youngster a monetary burden. 

The worth of a woman is seen purely by way of a patriarchal lens. Some examples of this may be seen in cultural practices. Women have to maneuver to their husband’s home after marriage and property all the time passes on to the son reasonably than daughters. Funeral rituals for fogeys can solely be carried out by a son. 

Meanwhile, women from poor households expertise untimely deaths because of the gendered allocation of meals and insufficient entry to correct medical care. Sex-selective abortions are additionally rising among the many financially secure. 

Human Life International (HLI) reported that trafficking and violent crimes are on the rise on account of a shortage of girls. Women are kidnapped from their houses and brought to villages which have a scarcity of girls for bachelors to marry. Midwives “put a spoonful of unhusked rice into the [newborn’s] throat, so the soaked rice expands and chokes the child to death,” Milagres Pereira, HLI India affiliate, mentioned on HLI’s web site. “As horrible as it may sound, this is the truth.”

Sex-selective abortion, through which female fetuses are aborted solely primarily based on their perceived low worth, is on the rise in India at an alarming fee. This has led to disproportionate intercourse ratios in each state of the nation, with 929 females to 1000 males in city areas and 943 females to 1000 males in rural areas. Men outnumber girls by 37 million, in response to the 2011 Indian census. 

The killing of girls is an issue that impacts males and the very construction of society at giant. A rising variety of eligible males are unable to seek out brides in India on account of a scarcity of girls. In Haryana, a northern state in India, femicide was prevalent however ultimately slowed down. In this state, males typically succumb to melancholy and loneliness, resulting in well being points and in some circumstances suicide. 

“People devalue their masculinity,” Prem Chowdhry, a researcher and social scientist in New Delhi, mentioned. “If they remain single, they will be declared not men at all. The basic function of a man in a rural society is to have a family and look after that family.” 

But femicide will not be unique to only one or two international locations — it’s a international downside that have to be highlighted. Around 66,000 girls are killed violently around the globe yearly — accounting for nearly 17% of all murder victims globally, in response to a 2013 report by the Small Arms Survey.

The homicide of girls solely on account of their gender is an simple actuality that’s occurring proper now in 2020.