Turkish police and judiciary often disregard violence against women as ‘a family matter’
CHP MP Binnaz Toprak (third from left) was among those speaking at the Ceftus event
Men are at the centre of Turkish current affairs and violence towards women is on the increase, according to a leading opposition MP.
The CHP’s Binnza Toprak spoke during at a talk entitled “Being a Woman in Contemporary Turkey” about the struggles she encounters daily in Turkey.
CHP MP Binnaz Toprak
At the event, which was organised by the Centre for Turkey Studies, Ms Toprak spoke of her own mother, a judge who presided over serious criminal cases in the 1930s.
She said this was a rare case even for Western countries of the time and showed the value attached to women in the formative years of the Turkish Republic.
She said that in the subsequent decades the contribution of women to society had regressed and expressed her surprise at the high proportion of male members of her audience.
Only 14 percent of the Turkish parliament’s seats are occupied by women and there is just one woman in the cabinet, she continued, meaning that it would be appropriate to amend the slogan of the parliament (“sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the nation”) to read: “sovereignty unconditionally belongs to men”.
Violence against women was all too often seen by the police and judicial system as a “family matter”, Ms Toprak said, adding that the problem stems from the state disregarding women’s rights and simply considering part of the family unit.
She also criticised the government’s decision to have a Ministry for Family and Social Policies, rather than a ministry for women.
The talk also saw contributions from the journalist Arwa Ibrahim and Dr Funda Üstek, who has prepared extensive research on the subject.