Türkan Kocadağ from TJA: We will organize with self-defense against violence 

2021-08-20 12:35:19


	 

	 

	ISTANBUL - TJA activist Türkan Kocadağ emphasized that it is not a ‘’coincidence’’ that most of the perpetrators of killed or raped women have high criminal files and emphasized that there is an organized evil and the necessity of being organized by improving self-defense against it.

	 

	Recently, women first disappear, then it is revealed that they are exposed to violence, rape and murder. The criminal files of most of the perpetrators of the killed or raped women are high. Taking the advantage of pandemic process, on April 13, 2020, AKP brought the execution law proposal to the agenda and approved the law that paved the way for the release of perpetrators of violence in the parliament. The majority of men who commit crimes are perpetrators released by the execution law. İpek Er, who was driven to suicide after being raped by specialist sergeant Musa Orhan in Siirt, and Edanur Kaplan, who was driven to suicide as a result of the release of the perpetrators despite making a complaint after the raped by two men in Ankara, are two of these examples.

	 

	Free Women’s Movement (TJA) activist Türkan Kocadağ stated that the increasing femicide and violence have a connection with the militarist discourses of the government, and stated that as TJA, they promised women that they would expand the struggle.

	 

	‘The discourses of those in power increased the femicides’

	 

	Emphasizing that as the women's struggle grows, the violence against women also grows at this rate, Türkan said that women are tried to be  frightened with the femicides and they are asked to withdraw from the areas and streets. Underlining that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used expressions that instigating femicides, Türkan made the following assessments: ‘’Since 2013, with the president’s statements about women, femicides have increased one hundred percent. To give a few examples, hundreds of women were killed, along with many explanations such as, ‘’Do parents want their daughter to sit on someone’s lap, abortion is murder, a woman who does not give birth is half, women cannot laugh.’’

	 

	Reminding that the perpetrator, who killed a 19-year-old woman in Adana, used the president's masculine and instigating expressions to get a remission, Türkan expressed that as the violence of the masculine male-dominated language of the government increased, the rate of violence against women increased at the same level. Saying, ‘’We are in the eighth month of 2021, more than a hundred women have been killed,’’ Türkan pointed out that unless the masculine and bigoted mentality language used by the government changes, the harassment, rape and femicides will increase.

	 

	‘Laws encourage perpetrators’

	 

	Expressing that the non-implementation of the existing laws encourages the perpetrators, Türkan said that many perpetrators shouted ‘’I will go in and out from prison for six months’’ and said, ‘’This state of shouting is the most cruel manifestation of the societal decay we are in.’’ Emphasizing that moral corruption and decay prevails in society in every sense, Türkan said that the most deadly form of discrimination against women, the violation of women's right to life, is directly related to injustice and unlawfulness in the country, that there is no justice and law, that hunger, poverty, racism, theft and rent are incresed the violence in society.

	 

	‘Men killed tens of women with the execution law that brought killers out’

	 

	Türkan said that the Istanbul Convention, which protects women and is an important social gain, was terminated with the decision of the president in the middle of the night, when the laws were not enforced. She said: “With a midnight decree, the execution law was passed, which brought the killers out, and these men who went out killed tens of women again. Applications such as ‘light sentences’ and good conduct time do not deter perpetrators.’’ Stating that men are protected and many perpetrators are not even detained, Türkan stated that the perpetrators of Seda Kurt, who was killed in front of her children in Avcılar in 2019, are still not detained, and that the fact that the perpetrators are not caught in a city like Istanbul, where there are cameras everywhere, is a clear indication of how killers are protected.

	 

	‘We will organize with weaving self-defense!’

	 

	Mentioning that heavy penalties should be given to the perpetrators, Türkan said: ‘’Good conduct time should not be applied. Killers should not be turned into crime machines in prisons, they should be transformed with trainings and reintegrated into society. Emphasizing the importance of building self-defense and organizing with all women’s movements, Türkan continued her words as follows: ‘’We can have no expectations from a mindset that says there is no difference in belief with the Taliban. As Kurdish women, we need to increase the struggle, build our self-defense, stand shoulder to shoulder with other women's movements to change this mentality for our right to life and all our rights.”