This article contains investigative reporting that follows up on, Silenced Turkey – A Retrospective on Gender-Based Violences, first reported and published by Cassandra Skolnick in 2022.
On May 14, 2023, for the first time in Turkish history, a presidential election was sent into a run-off with neither candidate securing at least 50% of the vote. On May 28, 2023, Incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won his re-election bid, though the necessity for a run-off election has been viewed as an indicator of growing dissent among Turkish civilians against Mr. Erdoğan and his Justice and Development (AK) Party. Since 2001, Mr. Erdoğan and the AK Party have demonstrated extensive political capabilities in Turkey, and despite elections being free, their influence has kept them far from fair.
The 2024 local elections demonstrated a potential for change, even in this constricting environment. On March 31, 2024, Easter Sunday, Mr. Erdoğan was dealt major blows as opposition leaders from the Republican People’s Party (CHP) claimed political victories across key cities where Mr. Erdoğan campaigned heavily, including Istanbul and Ankara. This has signified what can only be described as a democratic rebound in Turkey. On a day when Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, are we witnessing Turkish civilians rise up from nearly a decade of authoritarian rule, economic distress, and cultural oppression, to reclaim their country?
Cassandra Skolnick:
“I want to follow up with you on what we talked about in 2021. There have been some changes; Obviously last year the president was re-elected, but it was a razor-thin margin compared to past elections. It looks like there is some progressive movement […] It looks almost similar to the United States at the moment in that we have a very cataclysmic divide where it’s almost 50/50. But now we had a couple of days ago the local elections in Turkey and I’m so impressed the turn-out was as big as it was. […] It was really interesting to follow the news. I noticed that a lot of [the news] is against his political positions, but I didn’t notice a lot of conversation around cultural aspects. [Erdoğan] has shifted a lot of cultural ideas around and that’s where a lot of gender-based violence has risen from. Do we think we are going to start to see a reduction in gender-based violence and more policies to protect [the people]?”
Hafza Girdap:
“It changed many things, you cannot imagine, I could not even imagine. […] This election is a huge milestone in the historical context of Turkey, maybe the biggest one. I wouldn’t like to be pessimistic. A lot of people are resisting base right now and are going to run to different parts of the country to resist and reject the second candidate’s position. We’ll see how it will play out soon. […] Erdoğan knows that he really [was] defeated badly; So maybe in some sense, he got […] you know, I don’t believe that some people say that in terms of political act, he could change some course […] in terms of the local government, they can encourage the local enforcement with good relationships with them to take action in terms of gender-based violence, domestic violence, but they cannot, you know, initiate laws [and] policies in that regard, as far as I know.”
Despite growing political dissent, gender-based violence in Turkey has remained largely unchanged. As previously reported by Veris Media Group, femicide (the murdering of women) and gender-based violence is a major problem in Turkey. According to BalkanInsight, in September 2023, a court in Istanbul overruled prosecutors’ attempts from April 2022 to close the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (WWSF), arguing that the NGO should be closed down for, “[…] acting against the law and against morality.” The We Will Stop Femicide Platform advocates for women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights in Turkey.
According to their 2023 Annual Report, “[…] 315 women were murdered by men, and 248 were found suspiciously dead.” The Associated Press reported in March 2024 that WWSF was already reporting 71 women murdered in the first two months of 2024. The rising number of femicides appears to be associated with Turkey’s patriarchal foundations and cultural traditions. As we are witnessing in many nations around the world, women in Turkey are becoming more empowered and independent, seeking to leave abusive relationships and enter into employment opportunities outside of the home. According to a statement made to the Associated Press, WWSF Secretary General, Fidan Ataselim, states “Women in Turkey want to live more freely and more equally. Women have changed and progressed a lot in a positive sense. […] Men cannot accept this, and they are violently trying to suppress the progress of women.”
Cassandra Skolnick:
“I wanted to talk a little more about the number of gender-based violence that are happening in the country. Over the last two or three years, since we’ve talked, I’ve seemed to notice a steady number as far as what I’m seeing as reported, but I wanted to ask you, having more of a first-hand account from working with advocacy organizations. Are the numbers pretty much level? Have they stayed about the same?”
Hafza Girdap:
“I mean the femicide, the number, the cases, that can be […] accessed. There are a lot of suspected suspicious, you know, circumstances. They cannot determine the nature of the death, but it’s suspicious in terms of domestic violence or femicide. But the ones that can be accessed, the numbers or the cases, for the last three years, it’s more than 300 [women] every year. It’s all intimate partners and close relatives, so in terms of the impunity and the reluctance of the judiciary to punish femicide perpetrators or domestic violence perpetrators […] even if they are arrested or detained, somehow, their convictions are overturned or decreased and they are being released […] and on some conditions so that impunity actually encourages perpetrators [to think] ‘Okay, I won’t be facing anything in terms of punishment or incarceration.’ That’s why it’s not decreasing the number of femicides.”
In 2021, Turkey stunned the international community by becoming the first and only country to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty signed on May 11, 2011, aiming to address startling rates of violence against women by establishing preventative measures and a comprehensive legal framework. Turkey’s denunciation of the convention initially instigated fears of a domino-like effect, with heightened concerns that other countries might follow suit. However, these fears never materialized, and in June 2023, the European Union (EU) accessended into the Istanbul Convention. There are now 38 states in addition to the EU that are ratifiers of the Istanbul Convention.
Domestic cases of gender-based violence and femicide are not the only atrocities facing women. Absent an enforceable comprehensive legal framework established by the Istanbul Convention, women are forced to endure abhorrent conditions inside Turkey’s prison system. In an article by The Tacoma Ledger, Attorney Öykü Çakmak, a Member of the Prison Watch Commission, reported: “[…] that the most fundamental rights violations at prisons included physical and psychological pressures, sexual violence, mistreatment and torture.”
The Turkish newspaper, Turkish Minute, a media organization run by Turkish journalists exiled in Germany, reported that pregnant women or women who have just given birth are also facing human rights abuses because of connections to the Gülen movement. Turkish Penal Code Article 5275 establishes that “[…] the sentence of imprisonment is set aside/postponed for women who are pregnant or who are within six months of delivery,” but without the comprehensive and enforceable legal framework established by the Istanbul Convention, “[…] women are not allowed prenatal medical care and frequently contract infections in prison due to the lack of hygiene as well as adverse conditions.”
Cassandra Skolnick:
“At one point, Turkey wanted to ascend into the European Union…”
Hafza Girdap:
“Not now. […] It was, but not now.”
Cassandra Skolnick:
“Okay, but… if we see an end to [Erdoğan’s] political power. If he is no longer President. Do we see Turkey once again try to ascend into the European Union? Does Turkey officially ratify the Istanbul Convention?”
Hafza Girdap:
“Ohh, you know what? That’s actually the litmus test right now for the opposition. You know, looking at the results right now, taking their lessons and doing […] grassroots work within the […] political realms and also in the civil society. Environments. They have to be working hard for the next step. Because when the time comes, it’s not just… Okay, let’s do it. Or let’s not do it. They should be ready in terms of […] policy preparations, relationships with international bodies, getting support and then not just for the Istanbul Convention. As you mentioned, the accession. […] It’s they have to convince the society that if our own goals, nothing bad is going to happen, there is no problem with the stability. Actually, vice versa, the economy will be better [and] the justice system will be better if they show their work preparations. I don’t know the background. […] This is all up to the opposition right now. And also the balance, if they embrace [the] whole society, even the AKP supporters too, if society feels that they are not going to be threatened, their freedom of religion or their freedom of ideology, it will not be threatened.”
As Veris Media Group previously reported, the failed 2016 coup d’état resulted in President Erdoğan launching what the New York Times referred to as a ‘counter-coup’ against anyone in Turkey that his administration believed to be connected to the Gülen movement or Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETO): “[…] Mr. Erdogan will become more vengeful and obsessed with control than ever, exploiting the crisis not just to punish mutinous soldiers but to further quash whatever dissent is left in Turkey.” According to the Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST) Report 2022, “[…] the Turkish government has improperly imprisoned 160,000+ homemakers, teachers, NGO workers, academics, judges, prosecutors and journalists.”
Despite international condemnation, President Erdoğan has declared suspected Turkish citizens to be ‘enemies of the state;’ defined as “[…] a person accused of certain crimes against the state, such as treason.” This declaration has also been historically used as a method of political repression by authoritarians: “[…] an authoritarian regime may purport to maintain national security by describing social or political dissidents.” In the two years since we last investigated the Turkish purges, an additional 30,000+ civilians have faced improper imprisonment. According to the World Prison Brief, Turkey has the 6th largest prison population in the world and 17th in prison population rate per 100,000 people.
Cassandra Skolnick:
“I would like to talk a little bit about the quote “enemies of the state.” Journalists, teachers, and anybody who is tied to the [Gülen] movement have become enemies of the Justice and Development Party, and they’re being imprisoned. They’re being tortured. Have we noticed any kind of decrease in that or is that getting worse at this point?”
Hafza Girdap:
“Unfortunately, you know, every day before coming to class, […] today I saw, […] I saw the headline that again 70 people were detained through that kind of investigation. I mean it’s more than two million people right now who have somehow undergone investigations and [about] 600,000 people have been detained and incarcerated. […] They are all put into the same sack. Under the same umbrella, […] I’m always using this metaphor. It’s called FETO, related to the movement’s leader’s name, but even people who have nothing to do with religion or social values, sometimes they are just Kurdish people. Sometimes they are just socialist people, journalists, or I don’t know, ethnic. There is no connection. The only connection to the common ground is that they are opposing our plans, Operation Dictatorship. So. But they are as just you said, labeled as the enemies of the state, and within the society, this discourse is fed to the terrorist organization.”
While the future is uncertain, the events of the 2023 presidential election and the subsequent 2024 local elections in Turkey marked a pivotal moment in the nation’s political landscape. There is growing discontent among Turkish citizens, as the need for a run-off in the presidential election underlined. A report released by the Republican People’s Party (CHP)’s Poverty Solidarity Office and outlined by Turkish Minute states, “[…] 98 percent of the population in Turkey, or 83 million people, live below the hunger and/or poverty line, with 51.6 million (60.4 percent) under the hunger line.” Furthermore, the provocation to the international community by withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention caused a dramatic stabilization in high levels of femicide. As the updated AST Report 2022 demonstrated, the Erdoğan administration has also resisted calls for a cease and desist on the increasing number of purges of civilians deemed to be dissidents posing a threat to the security, stability, and interests of the administration. It has been two years since Veris Media Group first reported on Turkey and there have been a few considerable changes which have occurred. Turkey is facing a potential political trajectory that could lead to the resumption of its values and desire for a more transparent government, signifying the renewal of a pre-authoritarian democracy.