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‘We Will Stop Femicide’, the largest feminist group in Turkey that has documented violence against women since 2010, could be closed by the Turkish Prosecutor’s Office. Faced with the rejection of the possible measure for alleged “activities against the moral law”, hundreds of women went out to demonstrate in front of the court that is handling the case. Ankara has already backtracked on this matter when in 2021 it withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, which oversees laws against gender violence.
Under the slogans “you will never walk alone!” and “we will stop the murders of women”, hundreds of people protested in front of the main court in Istanbul, for the possible closure of the group ‘We Will Stop Femicide’, in Spanish, ‘We Will Stop Femicide’.
The movement’s representatives attended a hearing on June 1, after a prosecutor filed a complaint against them last April for alleged “activities against the moral law.”
According to statements made by the group’s president, Fidan Ataselim, the Turkish Prosecutor’s Office assured her that she received statements stating that the organization is trying to destroy traditional family structures “under the pretext of defending women’s rights.” Accusations that Ataselim called “grotesque” and “ridiculous”
Under these accusations, the accusing body intends to give in to the largest movement in Turkey, which for 12 years has been documenting cases of femicide, abuse and other aggressions against women in the country with a Muslim majority, although officially secular.
The We Will Stop Femicide platform in Turkey is currently protesting outside the Çağlayan courthouse in Istanbul as a hearing takes place inside over whether to forcibly close the organisation: https://t.co/IirvSiGmxn
— Alex MacDonald (@AlexJayMac) June 1, 2022
The representatives of the organization point to political motivations behind the trial. “There are massive and organized groups of women in the streets, and we believe that this trial is an attack against the struggle of women for their rights,” said the representative of the organization, Nursen Inal, when leaving the court.
Turkey continues to hamper women’s rights
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan has been the target of criticism since he pulled his country out of the Istanbul Convention in 2021, which monitors that member countries comply with laws designed to prevent crimes against women and prosecute those responsible.
The Convention is known by the name of the capital in which it was signed, but has been ratified by most European countries. Among them, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Malta, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Monaco, Slovenia and Sweden.
Precisely, the group ‘We Will Stop Femicide’, which today faces the risk of closure, was one of the most critical against that decision and has been organizing large rallies in favor of the European body.
Conservatives in Turkey accused the Convention of allegedly promoting homosexuality and threatening traditional family values.
According to the Turkish feminist platform, 160 women have been murdered in their country so far this year. Many of these homicides were committed by members of the victims’ families. The number of femicides in 2021 on Turkish soil stood at 423.
“We are under pressure from the government because we publicize each and every one of the murders of women name by name,” Inal said.
The group adds that its documentation contradicts the version of the Erdogan government, which states that the murder of women in Turkey is on the decline.
With AFP and local media
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