Violence against women who are forced to stay at home due to their coronavirus continues to increase. In the last 20 days, 18 women were murdered by men in Turkey, 12 of them at home. State officials are calling on people to “stay at home” but have not taken any precaution against violence against women.
Free Women’s Movement (TJA) spokesperson Ayşe Gökkan said that unfortunately they had anticipated such attacks against women, “We took some measures, but the state has closed all women’s institutions thus complicating our work. In Turkey the state does not protect women in any way and in fact it tries to erase all existing achievements of women. The power always protects men who kill women.”
Gökkan added: “At home, a man sees himself as the state. If women do not get stronger they will be faced with attacks. Women are not desperate and alone, they have created their institutions thanks to their resistance and struggle.”
Emphasizing that violence against women is political and committed by the state, Gökkan continued: “Women are murdered with the help of the state. Men cannot perpetrate these murders alone, they actually use the ways and methods they learned from the state. Government officials call on people to stay at home, but do not take any precaution to prevent murders and violence against women.”
Underlining that the world is fighting against coronavirus, whereas the AKP-MHP government has turned this battle into another opportunity to attack Kurds by appointing trustees to the HDP-run municipalities, Gökkan said: “Autonomous administrations have an important role and mission all over the world. Many sovereign states accepted the resistance of the peoples.
Local administrations were empowered, as central governments failed to address the problems of the society. Many countries are governed by autonomy, federation and cantonal systems. In Turkey, the AKP-MHP is attacking the gains achieved at local level. They are dismissing HDP mayors because local administrations were solving the problems of the people.”
