Evin Çiftçi 

 

ISTANBUL - Meryem Sair, a member of the DEM Party Istanbul Provincial Women's Assembly, attributed the increase in femicides to the policies implemented by the state. Meryem Sair conveyed the message, “We will fight against these political policies developed against women.”

 

Women have been fighting against male-dominated mentality for years for their right to life and equality. However, the government is not implementing laws that protect women; it is encouraging perpetrators with its policies of impunity. Despite this, women are organizing in all areas and expanding their struggle. 

 

Meryem Sair, a member of the DEM Party Istanbul Provincial Women's Council, said that the increase in femicides is fundamentally rooted in state policies.

 

Impunity policies are creating a male-dominated society

 

Meryem Sair stated that the increasing number of femicides is a result of the policies implemented by the state, adding that impunity policies embolden men. Meryem Sair said: "The reasons why the state has not amended its laws to address the ongoing femicides are very clear. These reasons lie entirely in confining women to the home and limiting them to their role as mothers within the household. Reducing the sentences of perpetrators responsible for femicides and suspicious deaths of women in court is to completely disregard women and, through impunity policies, embolden men, increase the pressure on women, and attempt to intimidate them into staying confined to the home."

 

‘Religion is being used to increase pressure’

 

Meryem Sair said that the Diyanet’s fatwas targeting women seek to increase pressure on women by exploiting their beliefs. She continued: “The Year of the Family shows us that femicide is on the rise in society; yet there is a culture of impunity for men. This sends the message that the state will protect the family, not women. Women will never be the side supported during the Year of the Family. As we see in the Diyanet's latest fatwas, we can clearly see this situation in its fatwa on inheritance rights. The fatwa issued by the Diyanet is certainly not an acceptable stance. The Diyanet is trying to increase the pressure being exerted on women by exploiting the religious beliefs of our religiously devout people. This is absolutely unacceptable to us women, and we believe this stance is entirely deliberate and political."

 

‘The peace process can be strengthened with women’

 

 Meryem Sair, who stated that the peace process can be strengthened with women, emphasized that they will continue their struggle. Meryem Şair concluded with the following words: "As a women's organization that is aware that women are the subject of Peace and Democratic Society, we know that preventing the increasing killings of women, which continue to target women in the progress of this process, can only be achieved by strengthening women's organizations.

 

What can be done in this direction is for the commission to meet with feminist women's structures and women's structures fighting against femicide, to seek their opinions and listen to them. It is us women who will fight against these political policies developed against women. We are aware of this. As the DEM Party Women's Assembly, we continue to collaborate with women's assemblies and women's structures with the awareness that this process can be strengthened by women."