‘End probe of women over slogans at Feminist Night March’

* Photo: Feminist Night March team

Click to read the article in Turkish

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a statement and urged the authorities in Turkey to "end probe of women over shouted slogans" at the 19th İstanbul Feminist Night March on March 8.

"Turkish authorities should immediately put a stop to the criminal investigation opened into women's rights activists for shouting slogans at a March 8, 2021 International Women's Day assembly in central Istanbul and ensure that judicial control measures imposed on them are removed," said the HRW in its written statement on March 12.

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'It violates international standards'

Indicating that the women are under investigation for 'insulting' President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a criminal offense in Turkish law punishable with a one to four-year prison sentence, the HRW underlined that this sentence violates international standards on freedom of expression.

The HRW briefly added the following:

"In an operation ordered by the Istanbul prosecutor's office against 18 women's rights activists, the Istanbul police detained 13 of them, including a 17-year-old child, late on the night of March 10. The five others presented themselves to the prosecutor the next day.

"On March 11, an Istanbul court imposed travel bans on 17 women, and additional judicial control orders on five activists including the child, requiring them to sign in at a police station on a regular basis until further notice.

Human Rights Action Plan

"Indeed, the arrests come just a week after the government announced a new Human Rights Action Plan in which it pledged to protect and uphold freedom of speech and assembly as well as to end police detention 'out of working hours' in which the purpose is purely to bring people in to give a statement to the prosecutor.

"The women's rights movement in Turkey is one of the strongest parts of civil society in the heavily polarized country and it is deeply critical of government policies on gender. Government officials have engaged in several controversial debates over Turkey possibly withdrawing from the Council of Europe's Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention.

Anti-LGBTI+ policies

"The government has invoked a conservative view of gender roles and sought to sideline the oppositional voices of activists supporting implementation of the convention.

"These debates have continued while there has been a surge in domestic violence during the Covid-19 pandemic and despite evidence that in Turkey every year hundreds of women are killed by current or former male partners, and that those who experience violence face significant barriers to getting help or overcoming impunity for the abusers.

"The Turkish authorities' anti-LGBT stance during the women's day events is the latest escalation in a campaign dating back to 2014 in which officials have restricted LGBT people's right to assembly and taken an increasingly hateful tone toward them. Anti-LGBT policy has become a polarizing tool for the Turkish government in its crackdown on opposition voices.

'Authorities' profound disdain'

Hillary Margolis, a senior women's rights researcher at the Human Rights Watch (HRW) also stated the following about the issue:

"Opening criminal investigations against women's rights activists for nonviolent slogans, and taking them from their homes in the middle of the night, demonstrates the Turkish authorities' profound disdain for freedom of assembly and speech, and of course women's rights.

"It speaks volumes that even on a day to celebrate women and promote equality, Turkish authorities would rather target them for peaceful demonstrations than protect their rights.

"Women, children, and LGBT people have the right to take part in women's day celebrations – just as they should be able to exercise all their rights. Turkey should end the repression and let their voices be heard." (AÖ/SD)