Even 'Two Protection Orders' Could not Protect the Woman Lawyer Killed in Diyarbakır

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"It seems that our lawyer friend was in despair and could not ask anybody for help. She knew well how the jurisdiction works, how the jurisdiction is inefficient and inadequate. She did not believe in getting a result. For, the man violence in Turkey is in a desperate situation."

Lawyer Hatice Demir from Diyarbakır Bar Association Women's Rights Center has told these sentences. For, Mesut İssi shot to death his wife lawyer Müzeyyen Boylu İssi, whom he quarreled in Diyarbakır.

Demir drew attention to that the perpetrator man acted in a planned way:

"Since he brought the gun with him, it reveals that he previously planned it. How many fathers would go to the year-end show of his child with a gun?

"Our woman friend who was killed was working in Çınar distinct organization of a political party. She was a woman who had works in the field of women's rights, she has come from the field.

"We know that she received two protection orders. We have always been saying that women cannot be protected despite the protection orders. This murder is the last clear-cut example of it."

"The women lawyer knew that she could not get a result from the jurisdiction"

Demir, who stated that the woman lawyer killed did not ask support from the bar association and other places, told the following:

"It seems that our lawyer friend was in despair and she did not ask anybody for help. She knew how the jurisdiction works, how it is inefficient and inadequate. In the current situation, she knew she could not get a result. For, the male violence in Turkey is in a desperate situation.

"On the other hand, she did not want to be questioned and judged because of the woman's status, field of study, the society she lives in, traditional judgements, motherhood and multi-identities.

"We need to think about why she did not ask even her closest friend for help. We know that the perpetrator man is a doctor. This situation shows us that the class status, age, social status, political view or ethnic belonging are not a factor to limit the male violence.

"The perpetrator's testimony in prosecution's office shows that he has justified himself in an ordinary manhood and referred that he has been cheated on, and those reveal that not cooking or ironing, the dressing style, friendships are driving devices in femicides to be discussed and justified through the domination of patriarchal culture over the social perceptions."

Call for lawyers to take an action

Lastly, Demir calls all lawyers for solidarity by expressing that all bar associations in Turkey will take mutual actions against male violence:

"We will follow the up-coming process. We will participate in the trial especially as litigant. We will not miss even one more person. We need to take strength from each other, to talk, to tell and to build solidarity."

(EMK/TY)