TURKISH WOMEN TOO FIGHT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 002066 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL OSCE TU SUBJECT: TURKISH WOMEN TOO FIGHT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE REF: ISTANBUL 452 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Turkey's young but steadily growing women's rights movement can claim progress in recent years. A handful of committed NGO's pushed the GOT to make women's rights one of the centerpieces of the government's 2003-2004 effort to accelerate EU-related reforms. They succeeded: the GOT enacted over 30 amendments to the Turkish Penal Code to address the previously taboo topic of domestic violence by criminalizing marital rape and stiffening punishments for those responsible for "honor killings." However, Turkey has stagnated since then, and much remains to be done. The November 25, 2008 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women provided us the opportunity to reach out to a wide array of contacts to assess the state of Turkey's efforts to combat domestic violence and to conduct outreach activities on the issue (we report our outreach septel). Our contacts agreed that Turkey is still struggling to implement the new legislation, and that success requires the government to recommit itself to the issue. End summary. -------------- Domestic Violence Strikes Turkey -------------- ¶2. (U) Domestic violence remains all-too-widely accepted in Turkish society today, according to our contacts in Turkey's women's rights community and a series of recent academic studies. An 18-month survey involving 1800 married women conducted by Sabanci and Bogazici University found that one in three Turkish women have experienced some form of domestic violence. The report stated that women are highly susceptible to abuse in their own homes at the hands of male relatives, and that the problem affects both urban and rural areas. A recent report by the Compassion Association (Sefkat-Der) listed the various reasons Turkish men gave for abusing women: a woman's perceived inability to bear a male child, leaving the home without permission, wanting to work, and a woman's unsatisfactory cooking skills. ¶3. (SBU) Hidayet Tuksal, President of the Capital Women's Association, told us that lack of education is the most important contributor to domestic violence. She noted that a large percentage of Turkish women do not receive an education beyond primary school. According to Ministry of Education statistics, 80 percent of women aged 25-64 have only a primary education or lower. The number of un-enrolled school age children during the 2007-2008 school year was 190,000, of which 157,000 were female. Tuksal believes this lack of education directly impacts the way young women perceive the issue. Bearing out her view, a 2003 study by Hacettepe University found thirty percent of women felt domestic violence was justified in certain situations. ¶4. (SBU) Meltem Agduk of the United Nations Population Fund told us that the lack of economic opportunities that stems from poor education negatively affects women's attitudes toward domestic violence. Women are unequally represented in the Turkish work force. According to the European Union's 2008 accession report on Turkey, women represented 24.7 percent of the workforce in 2007. The overall employment rate for women was even lower at 22.2 percent, the EU noted. Agduk told us that she has seen a great deal of anecdotal evidence to suggest that Turkish women who lack economic independence are less likely to leave their abusers or seek help. She noted that even holding down a job is not sufficient protection, as many husbands force their working wives to give them control of any earnings. ¶5. (SBU) Agduk told us that lack of education contributes to the persistence of the barbaric practice of "honor killings" -- murders ostensibly committed to uphold a family's honor. According to a July 2008 Prime Ministry Human Rights Presidency report, approximately 1000 honor killings have been committed in Turkey during the last five years. The report noted that honor killings are not tied to one specific group of people, but they are more likely to be committed by persons of rural backgrounds and low levels of educational attainment. Agduk noted that Turkey has made progress on the issue, including by passing legislation in 2005 to sharply stiffen punishments for family members who are involved in ANKARA 00002066 002 OF 003 the killings, but said that there is a long way to go. She noted that the new legislation had had the perverse effect of causing families to try to avoid the harsher penalties by enlisting minors to commit the killings or by forcing their female relatives to commit suicide. -------------- Bold Women Hurdling Over Obstacles -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Tuksal told us that the emergence of the women's movement in Turkey during the 1990s brought the issue of gender based violence to the national agenda. Groups such as Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR) persistently lobbied parliament to address domestic violence. In 1998, Parliament passed a law that introduced the legal mechanism of restraining orders for domestic-related violence to Turkey. This was followed by reforms to the Civil Code in 2001 and Turkish Penal Code in 2004 that brought outdated notions in line with modernity. Tuksel explained that the old civil code provision that declared the husband the legal head of the family was changed so that, "the family is based on equality between spouses," giving married women an equal voice in matters related to children and property. In 2004 Parliament passed a Law on Municipalities that required municipalities with over 50,000 residents establish a shelter for victims of domestic violence. ¶7. (SBU) Since then, progress has faltered, according to our contacts. Ilknur Ustun of the Association for Supporting and Training Women Candidates (KADER) told us that the primary problem is that the government has failed to ensure the many new laws were implemented. She said that the 2004 law requiring women's shelters epitomizes the problem. As documented by Amnesty International, only 35 shelters have been opened in Turkey to date, she noted. In some provinces, NGOs are establishing their own shelters and in some cases, contributing their own funds to operate the facilities. The Purple Roof Women's Shelter (Mor Cati),based in Istanbul, has contributed 400,000 lira of their own funds to open a women's shelter in the municipality of Beyoglu. According to recent media reports, Purple Roof is no long able to provide financing for the shelter and is being dismissed from the project. The government will reportedly take over all operations at the shelter. It is unclear if the shelter will remain open. ¶8. (SBU) Tuksal added that another key obstacle is the reluctance of authorities to get involved in an issue that has traditionally been considered a private family matter. In some cases authorities ignore complaints reported by women. These attitudes have contributed to the reluctance of women to seek help from authorities. Many women who do seek help from authorities cite gender insensitivity and claim that police often attempt to find a compromise between spouses instead of treating the violence as a crime. -------------- A Unified Solution -------------- ¶9. (U) Our contacts agreed that a combined top-down and bottom-up approach is the only way to solve the problem. Progress requires the government to enact and implement progressive legislation to provide a framework for advancement. But the real key -- changing the mentality of Turks -- requires a grass-roots approach complementing the government's efforts. Our contacts identified three key strategies: Get them young; teach them well; and change society's perception. ¶10. (SBU) Get them young: Ugur Ilhan of the Young Women's Shelter House Association (Genc Kiz Siginma Evi Dernegi) told us that the generational impact of violence against women creates a "chain of negative impacts," that is difficult to break without immediate attention. She therefore is working to locate and counsel girls early. Ilhan said she hopes to break the chain of violence early, by intervening in cases like that of one of her clients -- a woman who had been raped while attending a girls, school who, in an attempt to protect her own daughter, refused to send her to school. Had ANKARA 00002066 003 OF 003 this woman received counseling earlier, her daughter would not be trying to obtain a primary school education at the age of 20 and her grandchildren would have had a literate and educated mother. ¶11. (SBU) Teach them well: Ipek Ilkkaracan of Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR) told us that educating women about their rights helps to combat violence by creating awareness. It also provides women strength by and building of a community of like-minded individuals. Ilkkaracan said her organization collaborates with the GOT's Social Services Directorate to provide training on women's rights and Turkey's legal system in over 70 community centers around the country. WWHR's Hulya Gulbahar described the multiplier effect of this training with an anecdote about the male colleagues of the policewomen who received this training requesting such training themselves. ¶12. (SBU) Change society's perception: According to Canan Arin of Purple Roof, the Turkish media often sensationalizes honor killings and violence and therefore reinforces the image of women as victims, hindering them from developing positive self esteem. They are working to urge the media to urge the media to purge the sensationalism and to cover women's issues in an objective and educational manner. Arin believes that, "with help from the media, societal stigma related to discussing domestic violence will grow and a campaign to combat domestic violence will see success." -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (SBU) The legislative changes enacted by the GOT in 2003-2004 to address Turkey's failures on combating domestic violence were groundbreaking. But the hope that this effort gave to Turkey's human rights defenders has faded in recent years as the government failed to follow through with rigorous implementation. Fully complying with EU standards and reaching the goal of becoming a truly democratic country requires Turkey recommit itself to an all-out effort -- legislative, judicial, and educational -- to combat domestic violence and strengthen the rights of Turkey's women. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey SILLIMAN