MP visits woman convicted for self-defense: 'Don't be afraid'

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Senior figures of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) have paid several visits in the southern Adana province on the occasion of November 25 Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

One of the people they visited was Öznur Efeoğulları, a woman prisoner who had killed her husband in an act of self-defense.

After the visit to the Kozan Type-M Closed Prison Gülizar Biçer-Karaca, the CHP's vice chair responsible for human rights, conveyed the message of Efeoğulları.

"I asked her if she had a message for women. She said, 'No woman should go through what I went through. If they do, they should not remain silent and seek their rights'," Biçer-Karaca said.

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"Everyone in Kozan knows the story of Öznur. She hadn't spent a day without being subjected to violence and being beaten for 47 years of marriage. When she wanted to divorce, she was threatened with death.

"When she wanted to free herself from violence, even risking death, she had to remain silent in the face of the threat that 'I will make your children suffer the grief of you.'

"She was constantly subjected to violence and had to hide this because she was ashamed of the people around. Forty-seven years spent with a spouse who would drink every day, inflict violence not only on her but also on her children and used psychological, economic and every kind of violence... The defense she made was not only for the day of the incident but for 47 years.

"Öznur did not intentionally killed a person. She wanted to eliminate an attack with a carving knife and with death threats."

Along with CHP Adana Women's Branch head Oya Tekin, Biçer-Karaca also visited the family of a woman who was killed by her husband in front of her children, as well as a girl subjected to sexual abuse. (EMK/VK)