491 wounded women

"We don't want discriminatory policies" - Photo: csgorselarsiv/Dilara Açıkgöz

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Do you remember Fatma Yasak? Fatma was one of the women seeking justice in the face of male violence a few weeks ago.

Her ex-husband Alper T. abducted Fatma. He inflicted violence on her. He was not arrested. After Fatma, wounded as a result of this male violence, made herself heard on social media, Alper T. was arrested.

In the first seven months of 2021, men wounded 491 women in Turkey. Some of these women are now leading their lives in a wheelchair while some of them are still at the hospital due to their wounds.

I think this is one of the points where we fall short when handling the problem of male violence. We are so focused on feminicides that we unfortunately forget the women who survived male violence with injuries.

When we talk to feminist lawyers about this issue, it turns out that the wounded women are not protected and the men keep on bothering them in some way. As a matter of fact, we know that in some cases, men make other attempts to kill the wounded women. For this very reason, we call the feminicides "the murders waiting to happen."

Because even though the women who are subjected to male violence make applications to the police and prosecutor's office several times, their applications drag on in some way.

It is only when the man kills the woman that we, all of us from the highest state authority to the NGOs, burst out: "Ayşe applied to the prosecutor's office 23 times, but she was not protected..."

Self-power of women

What does the state do to protect these women?

I mean, what does it do to protect a woman subjected to the violence of a man? According to the İstanbul Convention, from which Turkey has withdrawn by a Presidential decision, these women shall be placed in women's shelters or their protection shall be ensured.

All in all, courts do not arrest the perpetrators of violence. To top it all, when a woman applies to the police to be protected from violence, the police officers may tell her, "Go home, such things happen sometimes."

Women are forced to use their self-power and self-defense in the face of male violence in the literal sense of the term.

That was exactly why Fatma Yasak tried to make herself heard on social media last week and it is thanks to her own efforts that she has protected herself from Alper T.'s violence.

I say "protected" at least for now because the judiciary, which arrests men who inflicted violence and were highly likely to do it again as a result of public pressure, may quietly release the same men one night.

According to the data that we compiled from the news reported in the press, 491 women were wounded as a result of male violence in the first seven months of 2021. Will their emotional wounds heal even if their physical wounds heal? It is not known, either.

There are 491 wounded women.

But, is there a support mechanism in Turkey to ensure that these women hold on to life? With the annulment of the İstanbul Convention, the answer to be given to this question is getting more and more bitter:

No, of course there is not.

Then, let's ask on behalf of these 491 women as well as their relatives:

Is there any support mechanism for women who survived male violence with injuries? What are you doing for these women?

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(EMK/SD)