Women slam sexist language in recent political debate

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The Human Rights Association (İHD) Women's Commission and main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) İstanbul Provincial Chair Canan Kaftancıoğlu have criticized the sexist language used by politicians in recent public debates.

Releasing a written statement, the İHD said the judiciary should take action against President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his remarks against İYİ (Good) Party Chair Meral Akşener.

Speaking at his party's parliamentary group meeting yesterday (May 26), Erdoğan praised an attempted attack on Akşener in his hometown in Rize last week.

"This is Rize. If you insult a man of Rize, put him into the same equation with a baby killer like Netanyahu, this is what would be done," he said, referring to a previous statement of Akşener where she had called Benjamin Netanyahu "the Israeli version of Erdoğan."

"They taught a good lesson to miss bride without going too far. And this shows the good manners of the people of Rize," said Erdoğan.

"The statements praising violence against women by someone who holds a position that is responsible for all of Turkey tend to legitimize violence both in the public and in the judicial system," said the İHD.

Also mentioning the recent online confessions of organized crime boss Sedat Peker, the İHD said: "The covered up rape and murder allegations and statements that target women comprise the list of crimes of the politics-mafia cooperation."

In a YouTube video he released in early May, Peker accused AKP deputy Tolga Ağar, the son of former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar, of sexually assaulting and killing an 18-year-old journalist from Kyrgyzstan. The incident had been covered up with the help of Mehmet Ağar, he claimed.

CHP's Kaftancıoğlu wrote on Twitter that "The body of the woman and the woman herself isn't a means of settling accounts for anybody! Be it politicians, mafia, or whoever, we are fed up with your masculine language and reciprocal sexist threats!"

Peker and Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu recently exchanged threats, with the minister calling Peker "a helpless man hiding behind his wife's underwear." (BS/EMK/VK)