Spotlight: Turkish women stand up against growing male violence

ISTANBUL, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Dilara Kandak was only 23 years old when she was found dead early this week in southern Turkey.

Her shallow grave gave away the location of her half-buried body in a woodland area. Her body was naked and wrapped in a blanket.

A mother of two, Kandak had been living separated from her husband for two years before her father reported her as missing last month.

Another incident happened the same week in Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, in which a woman was shot dead by her estranged husband at her office in a district municipality.

In the southwestern province of Mugla, a man committed suicide after killing his father-in-law, brother-in-law and wounding his wife who wanted a divorce.

Details of the murders are not clear yet, but the victims' bitter stories are just a few examples of millions of women being subject to male violence in the country.

According to the latest data, in February alone, 47 women were murdered by men across the country, against 28 in the same month in 2017.

"This is actually the highest number of fatalities we have ever recorded in a month so far," wrote an article published on the website of We Will Stop Femicide Platform that tracks the number of homicides against women.

In 2017, a total of 409 women were killed by men, up from 328 in 2016, while 387 children were sexually abused and 332 women were subject to sexual violence, the platform said.

For women rights groups, the inadequacy of the law and regulations that are supposed to protect women from male violence and the scarcity of women shelters are the main reasons behind the rising figures.

"Most of the time, we are witnessing penalty reductions in violence cases against women and children," Busra Gundogdu, a representative of We Will Stop Femicide Platform, told Xinhua.

Under the Turkish penal code, judges can reduce sentences by up to one sixth considering the suspect's past, social relations and behavior during the trial period.

The platform publishes a monthly list of court cases pertaining to abuse of women so as to establish a strong public awareness.

Over rising public outrage, the Turkish government has now started to work on a new regulation which could eliminate the reduction of sentences over good conduct.

The ruling Justice and Development Party has also announced to consider chemical castration for those convicted of sex offenses against children.

"We see that in some countries, abusers of children under 12 or nine years old receive heavier penalties. We are working on similar regulations," Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, Turkey's minister of family and social policies, said recently.

Gundogdu urged the authorities to adopt more tangible solutions to better protect women and children rather than endorse old-fashioned practices like castration, as it is against human rights.

In her view, the protection law is not effectively implemented in Turkey.

"The murdered women either had no protection orders or the orders could not be detected," she said, adding in some cases the victims were not even protected at all although they had demanded it.

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Women's Solidarity, an independent organization, appealed to the state institutions to increase the number of shelters and counseling centers for women.

The group is providing free legal and psychological counseling and guidance on shelters, health and work to applicants. In 2016, a total of 336 women turned to the foundation for help.

"It is clearly not sufficient," the foundation said in a statement posted on its website, noting that both the quality and quantity of these services should be improved throughout the country with the contribution of public officials.

For 55-year-old Zeynep Bayburtlu, state authorities should launch an initiative that includes a series of training programs on combating violence against women as well as awareness-raising activities.

Bayburtlu herself was subject to male violence 10 years ago when her husband started to beat her after she sought a divorce.

"When you experience something like that you don't know what to do, where to go or what to say," she said. "Even your closest ones, your mother or your father, keep their distances as if it is your fault."

She described her feeling at that time as "pure despair."

"That is why I strongly insist on the necessity of establishing training centers that can tell women how to protect themselves before it is too late," she explained.

To mark the International Women's Day on Thursday, women across Turkey are set to organize events like night marches, concerts and demonstrations to raise their voices against violence.

"They will once again shout out loud 'another world is possible,'" said Bayburtlu. Enditem