MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – About 7.000 women were killed by men in the last 18 years in Turkey while the 18-year-old AKP government hasn’t taken a step to prevent femicides in the country and this causes the number of femicides to increase day by day. The Turkish judicial system has used the approach of the government towards women to award killers with good behavior discounts for wearing ties and suits. Men, who have been encouraged by these, have mounted their violence against women day by day. Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention by a presidential decree has also sparked outrages among women as violence against women has been increasing every passing day. We always interview women’s organizations and women from certain occupational groups about many issues regarding women such as the women’s policies of the government, unpunishment of perpetrators, and how people react to the discourses on women. Today, we are sharing our interview with Jinnews, a women’s news agency in Turkey.

“We report news about women carefully”

Jinnews is a women’s news agency based in Diyarbakır. All reporters, editors, camerawomen are women. Jinnews began its reporting journey with the “On the path to truth, with women’s pen” slogan. The women’s agency has kept reporting the truth even if it has recently become the target of the judicial system. We spoke to Jinnews editor Nişmiye Güler about how they report violence against women cases and how they are affected by them. Nişmiye Güler told us that they have carefully prepared the news about women and that they have gone through a very difficult time when femicides have mounted.

“Women’s statements are a basis for us”

Nişmiye Güler told us that women’s statements are a basis for them and they report to expose the perpetrators. “There are points to be taken into consideration when reporting suspicious women deaths, femicides, or violence against women. Journalists should question what women have faced while reporting about them. Today, the mainstream media outlets report the private life of killed women but they don’t mention anything about the perpetrators. They report their news as if women are killed for “honor killing” or “cheating”. We report this kind of news carefully. We try to create a journalistic language without questioning women or doing anything that will affect their lives or future.”

“The language used by the mainstream media outlets show the way and method to the perpetrators”

Nişmiye Güler talked about the news of the mainstream media outlets and how they encourage the perpetrators and show method to the perpetrators. “While reporting about women, we take care about using a language to stand by women and to expose the perpetrators. While reporting on femicides and sexually abuse cases, we report exposing the perpetrators without giving any detailed information about women. Because we know that the detailed information can encourage the perpetrators,” Nişmiye Güler said, noting that the number of violence against women cases and femicides has seriously increased and that most women are concerned about their lives because no measures have been taken to prevent femicides and violence against women in the country.

“We feel angry against the system and patriarchy”

Nişmiye Güler continued to talk as follows; “We observe a serious increase in suspicious women deaths in the country in recent years. We feel angry because no solution has been produced to stop femicide and violence against women. We feel angry against the system and patriarchy about these issues. We have great difficulties in reporting these incidents. Now, every woman living in Turkey can face violence or be killed because we have no guarantee. In the existing system, there is an attempt to create a perception that women are doomed to be killed. We feel angry about this situation. We began our journey to change this. As a women’s news agency, our mission is to contribute to women’s struggle by changing this perception. I must state that we do our best to do this.”