Details of indictment against We Will Stop Feminicides Platform

Platform members at the courthouse for the case of the killing of Şulet Çet. (Photo: csgorselarsiv.com)

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• They make statements criticizing the detention of the Kurdish politicians Sebahat Tuncel and Gültan Kışanak.
• Founders of the association attend demonstrations.
• The association has deviated from its purpose and is doing immoral activities.

These allegations are from the indictment prepared by the Intellectual and Industrial Crimes bureau of the İstanbul chief Public Prosecutor's Office about We Will Stop Feminicides Platform (KCDP).

CLICK - 'We Will Stop Feminicides Platform' faces closure for 'immoral' activities

First hearing of the case will be heard on June 1 at the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan.

Esin Yeşilırmak, a lawyer with the KCDP, said the families they provided legal assistance were upset the most because of the lawsuit.

Explaining the allegations against the association to bianet, she said, "We won't allow our association to be shut down with unlawful evidence."

The prosecutor's office deemed struggling against male violence "immoral," she said, calling for public support ahead of the hearing on June 1.

Legal harassment

Yeşilırmak explained the allegations and their unlawful aspects one by one:

* We are an association organized in every district of Turkey. Every district and province has social media accounts. Our members manage these accounts. When [Kurdish politicians] Sebahat Tuncel, figen Yüksekdağ and Gültan Kışanak were detained, a post like "This is illegal. We will fight against this as well" was shared. This is one of the allegations. An allegation like "They are tearing apart society by defending these women.

There were many complaints made to the BİMER [Prime Ministry Communications Center] at the time. There were no investigations launched against the association. There were individual investigations against our association managers. We are, of course, against the illegal detention of these women. But it wasn't the association managers who shared these posts. The manager of every province-district shares posts on their own pages.

*Moreover, all investigations opened because of these ended in non-prosecution. They are trying to fabricate crimes. We don't accept this.

*Another allegation is this: "A woman lawyer who was a member of the Lawyers for Freedom Association in Ankara is also a member of your association. That association was closed by a statutory decree, so we are launching an investigation." Is it a crime to be a member of a closed association? There are no cases where this person received a sentence. Can't one person be a member of more than one association?

"Immoral activities"

*Another allegation is that we do immoral activities. What did we do? What is the proof of this? There is no single proof, either concrete or abstract, in the file. Is it immoral to say, "We will stop feminicides?" What we do is saying this on the streets for 12 years, to struggle against male violence, to stand with families whose daughters, sisters are murdered by men. Is this immoral?

"Fabricating crimes"

*Another allegation is about the criminal records of managers. There are no crimes in them. It was not enough, and they carried out a deep inquiry. They looked at whether "they attend demonstrations." Yes, our managers, of course, attend demonstrations about women's rights. This is in our association's bylaws. It is one of our purposes. They tried to fabricate crimes.

*There is a man. He couldn't make the alimony payment and was arrested. There is a complaint from him. Complaints from many men like him... We can say that our association was subject to investigation because of an attack of men. We can also say that it is the discomfort of men who don't want to pay alimony. This means the association is in the right direction.

"Women's movement is under attack"

*For the last part, I can say that this is not a new process for us. It started in the days when they did not allow us to hold demonstrations. Then the demonstrations where we embraced the İstanbul Convention, the Las Tesis dance, the police response to the recent demonstrations... All of them suddenly emerged as a closure case.

*The detentions against the Rosa Women's Association, the pressures against the Tarlabaşı Community Center, and the pressures on those working in the field of LGBTI+ rights all showed us what would happen today.

*The case did not surprise us but we are surprised that there are such baseless and unlawful claims.

*We are an association that the Ministry of Family asks for opinion while making draft laws. We do joint projects with the Ministry of National Education at high schools. (EMK/VK)