As Jihad Watch reported Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has withdrawn his country from an international treaty that aims at protecting women from violence and abuse. This withdrawal was issued through a presidential decree on February 20.
The move sent shockwaves to women’s rights advocates throughout the country, which has been reeling from systematic violence and murders against women.
The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence also came to be known as the Istanbul Convention, as it was opened for signature in Istanbul during the Turkish Chairmanship of the Organization in 2011.
Turkey’s ratification of the convention was particularly significant, as attacks and murders against women have become endemic throughout the country. For example, on December 29 of last year, four women (Aylin Sözer, Selda Taş, Vesile Dönmez, and Betül Tuğluk) were murdered in one day. Women’s rights activists in Ankara who protested the murders were detained by police.
According to the “We Will Stop Femicide Platform,” a women’s rights organization in Turkey, 300 women were murdered and 171 women were found “suspiciously dead” in 2020. The Platform’s annual report said:
It could not be determined why 182 of the 300 women were killed. 22 of them were killed for economic reasons and 96 were killed for trying to make a decision about their lives, such as wanting a divorce, refusing to make up [with their husbands or ex-husbands], or rejecting a proposal of marriage or relationship. The fact that the excuses for the killings of 182 women have not been identified is because violence and murders against women has been rendered invisible.
Of the 300 women killed in 2020, 97 were killed by their husbands, 54 by their boyfriends, 38 by their acquaintances, 21 by their ex-husbands, 18 by their sons, 17 by their fathers, 16 by their relatives, 8 by their ex-boyfriends, 5 by their brothers, and 3 by someone they did not know. By whom 23 women were killed could not be determined.
The organization noted that by whom and on what pretext the women were killed should be found, and that fair trials should be held concerning the murders. “Unless suspects, defendants and murderers receive deterrent punishments and unless preventive measures are implemented, violence will continue,” said the Platform.
Sadly, violence against women is widespread in many places across the world. But the fact that Islamic scriptures sanction this violence and dehumanize women in many of their teachings makes abuse against women even more commonplace and a normative aspect within Islamic societies.
According to Islamic scriptures, for instance, men are permitted to beat their wives.
Quran (4:34) – “Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.”
Quran (38:44) – “And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with it, and do not break your oath…”
Islamic scriptures also teach that a woman is worth less than a man in matters such as inheritance and court testimony. Moreover, a Muslim man can marry as many as four women at a time and have sexual relations with an unspecified number of sex slaves as well.
The dominant teachings of Islam concerning women dictate that men are in charge. For instance:
Quran (4:34) – “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them.”
Quran (2:228) – “and the men are a degree above them” “Them” refers to women.
As the website of the Religion of Peace notes:
According to the Quran, Hadith and Islamic law, a woman may indeed have physical harm done to her if the circumstances warrant, with one such allowance being in the case of disobedience. This certainly does not mean that all Muslim men beat their wives, only that Islam permits them to do so.
This permission is one of many teachings that rob women of their humanity and dignity. It largely normalizes violence and brutality against women. William Kilpatrick, the author of “Christianity, Islam, and Atheism,” points out how such abusive teachings largely affect Muslim communities:
Islamic sexual ethics devalue women. And this devaluation accounts for the high incidence of domestic violence in traditional Muslim households.
First among “family values” is male honor—an honor which largely depends on a man’s ability to control the women in his life. A wife or daughter who might jeopardize the honor of husband, father, or brother, risks severe punishment, even death.
A Muslim male’s control over women extends beyond honor killings to female genital mutilation, a cruelty designed to depress libido and safeguard virginity. Other practices—forced marriage, child marriage, temporary marriage, polygamy, wife-beating, and easy divorce (for men) are part of the warp and woof of Islamic society.”
Turkey is not ruled according to Islamic sharia law, but Islam appears to deeply shape the way many men in Turkey view and treat women. Hatred and abuse against women have become an increasingly pressing problem in the country, to the point that many women who protest femicides get detained while murderers of women get released.
For example, the murder suspect of Gülsüm Şahin, who was strangled to death with a rope at her home in April 2017 in the city of Antalya, was detected and caught eight months after the incident from a DNA match. The suspect, who was taken into custody, was released on condition of judicial control.
Some other examples of how violence against women has become established in Turkey are mentioned in the Platform’s annual report:
Tuğba Erçakar was battered and threatened with death by the man she wanted to leave, and the perpetrator was released despite the battery medical report. The perpetrator was detained after being summoned to testify for the third time following the complaints against him.
Sema Kozak, who lives in Burdur, responded [in self-defense] with a mop handle to the man who assaulted her while she was working. Although Sema’s teeth were broken as a result of the attack, the mop handle was considered [by the judge] to be a weapon and Sema was fined 1680 liras.
Çağla Çiçekçi, stabbed by the man she broke up with in the city of Zonguldak, is struggling to survive in the hospital where she was taken.
Ceyhan Eneş, who lives in Mardin, was subjected to violence once again by the man against whom she had got a restraining order, after the period of restraining order expired.
Kevser El-Isa Hasan, who lives in Adana, was beaten by the man with whom she coinhabited and got injured with a sharp object on the pretext of jealousy. Kevser was able to survive because her neighbors called the police.
D.U., who lives in Mersin, was shot with a firearm in the middle of the street by the man she wanted to get a divorce from. The perpetrator who escaped could not be caught.
More recently, in January, a man poured hot water on and scalded his wife after she woke him up to have breakfast in the morning, according to news reports. The perpetrator was released after a short police custody. The injured woman said that her husband constantly threatened her with death, saying “If I kill you now, I will be jailed for 3 years only. Nothing will happen to me.”
When women are so frequently brutalized by men in Turkey, why did the Turkish government withdraw from an international convention that aims to prevent violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators? Why did the government make women even more defenseless and vulnerable in the face of male violence?
This withdrawal speaks volumes about the extent to which women are respected and protected in Islamic dictatorships.
Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara.
Jim says
This makes sense because Erdogan is trying to Islamize Turkey. Apparently support from this comes from the more fundamentalist people in the center and eastern parts of Turkey, whose population has exploded and surpassed the numbers of more liberal Turkish people on the West of the country in more cosmopolitan cities. Thus we can expect more sharia law to be applied. It also helps Erdogan to ally with the Iranian mullahs and any anti-western Islamist states and movements. This all makes sense in his drive for power and domination. Abuse of women puts him in line with the most radical Muslims, who take the scriptures seriously. Less committed Muslims may simply ignore the scriptures and clerics, but this is mainly possible in countries under secular governments or non-Muslim countries. And note how tolerant non-Muslim states often are of sharia practices contrary to their own laws and constitutions.
gravenimage says
+1
Rob Porter says
Jim – and just watch the cowardly, utterly gutless Western World, including thus the United States, Britain, the E.U. and NATO do nothing about Turkey and Erdogan. Even Trump did nothing about this piece of crap, just waffled about being able to get along with him. Why the hell would anyone decent person want to? No matter how Erdogan thumbs his nose at the E.U. and NATO, assists enemies of the West, nothing happens. Turkey aids ISIS, hugely helped Azerbaijan in its war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, yet the U.S.. E.U. and other crappy countries like self-righteous Canada said nothing. Just watch them remain silent now. Erdogan even flew in Muslim mercenaries from all over to fight the Armenians, yet nothing happened to Turkey and this vile piece of filth, Erdogan. Islam is not a civilization and hence females are treated like disposable garbage.
All over Africa mainly Christians are being savagely slaughtered by Muslims and yet from the spineless West with it ‘concern’ for human rights, no Western government says a thing.
Jihad Watch – No, I haven’t said this before
born saturday says
what do you expect from the new ottomaniac empire chalifate whose leader, mahdi (new prophet) runs the terrorist mosques all over the west??? would he hug the women and say he feels sorry for their oppresion and slavery?? islam is all about enslavement the muslims them slaves become slaves to the mullahs… a mad man like erdogan can only announce the new sharia nothing much more….
nicholas tesdorf says
Without violence towards women, the Muslim men would have no source of entertainment and diversion. Islam is not an equal-opportunity religion.
gravenimage says
Why Erdogan pulled Turkey out of European treaty aimed at protecting women from violence
………………
There is nothing more Islamic than beating, abusing, and “Honor Killing” women.
God, I hate Islam.
European pagan says
Heartless evil old man
Falsafa says
whilst the human rights abuses of even a single woman is unacceptable. Türkiye‘s femicide levels are low compared to the European average. So the premise of your argument is completely off-track (as expected). Perhaps your ire should be directed at Latin America‘s appalling femicide rates (see attached) – all hard core catholic countries with the Bible serving as the Latin American peoples moral compass. Interesting eh dear anti muslim bigots and haters!? Perhaps this site should be renamed Bible/Crusade watch!
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.FE.P5?end=2018&start=2018&view=map
oskar says
Where in the Holy Bible says “hit your wives if you fear disobediance of them” as your blood thirsty false god allah says in the dirty qur’an?
The Bible gives command to husbands to love their wives: “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.” (Colossians 3:19). Where is it in the qur’an that commands husbands to love their wives?
If you read both the qur’an, hadith and the Holy Bible you can easily see the God of the Bible is absolutely different than the false god of qur’an.
Murder and violence against women has increased more and more in Turkey during last 20 years due to the Islamic supremacist Erdogan came into power. He has built more than 20.000 mosques where the Islamic misogyny is unavoidabely preached. I don’t even want to mention the contents of the ugly, misogynist bigotry that is preached in these mosques in the disguise of “religion”.
In the Christian lands, Europe and Latin America, which you’re throwing dirt at, women can dress freely and talk with other men without getting “honor” killed. But in Turkey, many islamic conservative families are forcibly imposing islamic dresses on their daughters and even on women that they did not know already. They are killing women for chatting with other men.
“The Prophet stoned two Jews, and I was among those who stoned them. I saw (the man) trying to shield (the woman) from the stones.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 2556)
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (Bible, John 8:7)
“36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” (Bible, Luke 6)
The difference between Christianity and Islam is very clear. And that Islam is an evil lie.
gravenimage says
Actually, violence against women and “Honor Killings” are rife in the Muslim world, and are seldom prosecuted. And why would they be? The Qur’an sacralizes wife beating, and the “Prophet” himself beat his child bride.
“‘We Don’t Want To Die’: Women In Turkey Decry Rise In Violence And Killings”
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/15/760135010/we-dont-want-to-die-women-in-turkey-decry-rise-in-violence-and-killings
Note that “Falsafa” has no problem with Erdogan pulling out of this agreement–but then, why would he?
OLD GUY says
Erdogan is an islamic dictator who see’s islam ruling the world, Under islam women basically have no RIGHTS or VALUE, sex and slavery.