MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – Thousands of women were killed in Turkey in the last 20 years, and this number is increasing due to both the judiciary and the government's policies. 26 women were killed, 17 women were reported as suspicious in June 2021, according to the data of Jinnews, an all-women news agency. The data also shows that 144 women were killed in Turkey in the first six months of 2021. Most of the suspicious deaths of women are reported as “suicide” in the country. But most of the suspicious deaths cases were reopened and it was revealed that the deaths of women were murder, not suicide as a result of the struggle of women and families. Like in the suspicious death case of Ayşe Tayurak, whose dead body was found in the Silvan district of Diyarbakır province and reported as “suicide”. Ayşe Tayurak’s daughter claimed that her mother was killed not committed suicide. After her claim, Rosa Women’s Association took action and issued press statements in the district in order to reveal Ayşe Tayurak’s suspicious death.

“The system encourages men”

Rosa Women’s Association member Nevin Oyman Girasun reported that they find very different details when they investigate the suspicious deaths of women. “The discourses and policies of the system encourage men. The system protects men, who killed women, with its laws. These policies of impunity encourage men to kill women. Men can get the courage to murder women very easily.”

“Suspicious deaths are not investigated in detail”

Highlighting that the femicides cases are reported as “suicide” cases recently, Nevin Oyman Girasun said that the suspicious deaths are not investigated in detail. “Every death can be a murder case,” she said, “We should say that If women are driven suicide, the deaths of women are femicides. The deaths of women should be investigated in detail. The law enforcement officers arrive at the scenes first but they don’t collect evidence and investigate the cases in detail. They sometimes arrive at the scenes late, for this reason, the investigations are conducted incompletely. The judiciary system has a great responsibility to reveal suspicious deaths of women; however, the courts rule these deaths as “suicide” and close these cases. The system stands with men, not with women. What happens in the suspicious deaths shows us this very clearly.”

“Women’s organizations have a great responsibility to reveal suspicious deaths of women”

Stating that women’s organizations have a great responsibility to reveal suspicious deaths of women while the judiciary system stands by men, Nevin Oyman Girasun said, “In this process, the laws never stood with women or protected them. Women felt alone. They protected men instead of women. Women’s organizations have a great responsibility. When we investigate the suspicious deaths cases, we see that women didn’t committee suicided. Generally, the perpetrators are husbands. The state, the law, the system may not give confidence to women, but women's organizations should show that women are not alone in this process. Women don’t deserve to die, we deserve to live.”