Women Fear for their Lives - Social Service Manager Unimpressed

"Women who have been exposed to violence for years call for help only as a last resort and ask to stay in women's shelters. Almost all of them come to us with serious fractures and physical and psychological injuries. Their lives were in danger several times".

With this explanation, Nebahat Akkoç from Ka-Mer, Zozan Özgökçe from the Van Women's Association and Harika Peker from the SELİS Women's Association reacted to a statement made by Oktay Taş, Provincial Manager of Social Services in Diyarbakır in south-eastern Turkey who said that "women apply for shelter for trivial reasons".

Ka-Mer is a Turkish women's group in Diyarbakır that finds shelter for and offers legal aid to women who have been threatened by their relatives. The SELİS Women's Association is active in the region of the Batman Municipality in the country's south-east.

Akkoç from Ka-Mer criticized that provinces make the places of shelter homes public. Peker from SELİS drew attention to problems experienced at provincial directorates for social service.

Özgökçe from the Van Women's Association underlined the fact that women are not only exposed to physical violence but become victims of economic, sexual and emotional violence as well. "Many women cannot talk about the violence they have experienced when they apply to us at first. The most severe traumata are forgotten and surface again years later".

Akkoç: It is a positive development that women are aware of violence

"We are working for the women's movement but we do not even know the places of shelters and we do not want to know. We worked together with the Social Services and Child Protection Institution (SHÇEK) in Diyarbakır many times. These were always cases of women who had experiences very severe violence and whose lives were in danger even".

"In addition to the physical violence, the women also experience economic, sexual and psychological violence. All these different kinds of violence can cause serious damage to the women's mental and physical health. It is a very positive development if the women start realizing that they are exposed to violence".

Peker: Difficulties with Social Service in Shelters

"The stance of the Social Service Provincial Directorate is very different from our own approach. This year, three women we sent to shelters of SHÇEK did not want to stay there. They do not take care of the women's psychology and their rehabilitation. The point of view of a male and female executive is quite different. The co-operation with women's organizations must be improved and the number of specialists should be increased in order to overcome certain problems".

Özgökçe: Not enough specialists at SHÇEK, lack of efficiency

"Such a statement can only be made by somebody who has no idea about violence against women and who has not established a real communication with women".

"Sometimes, psychological violence hurts women more than physical violence. Women feel excluded and humiliated".

"The co-operation between social services and women's organizations in Van has improved since many cases of violence have been published by the media. We were able to monitor problems within the structure of SHÇEK throughout this process. There is a lack of staff and resources for the amount of work to be dealt with. The team of specialists is limited. Some people who are not up to the business have been appointed to certain positions by political decisions. This also creates differences in the approach and prevents people from working efficiently". (BB/VK)