Turkey fails to protect women

[Bart Meerdink]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

D66 toont zich de laatste tijd de meest uitgesproken voorstander van
toetreding van Turkije tot de EU.

Bezoeken aan het land schetsen steeds een optimistisch beeld.

D66 zou best wel wat meer waarde mogen hechten aan de positie van
vrouwen in Turkije. Zie:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3768847.stm en

http://news.amnesty.org/mav/index/ENGEUR440212004

Op zich mag Turkije van mij op den duur wel in de EU, maar ik vraag me
af of de mensen die daar een kijkje genomen hebben wel voldoende
kritisch zijn geweest.

Okee, je wilt degenen die je daar spreekt graag plezieren, maar juist
dit soort dingen moeten bij een bezoek aan de oppervlakte komen, in
Turkije moet men beseffen hoe Europa tegen dit soort zaken aankijkt.

Hieronder het BBC artikel:

Turkey 'fails to protect women'

Amnesty International has severely criticised the Turkish government and
judiciary for their failure to act over violence against women.

The human rights group's latest report claims up to a half of all women
in Turkey have been victims of violence.

Amnesty says changes have been made to the legal system but shocking
failures to uphold the law continue.

Turkey is waiting for the European Union to decide to set a date for
talks about its possible entry into the EU.

Honour killings

The BBC's Jonny Dymond, in Istanbul, says the Amnesty report paints an
almost unimaginably bleak picture of women's lives in Turkey.

Citing study after study it suggests that the level of violence against
women here is considerably higher than around the world, he says.

It is says at least a third and possibly up to 50% have suffered violence.

"Violence against women by family members spans the spectrum from
depriving women of economic necessities through verbal and psychological
violence, to beatings, sexual violence and killings," the reports says.

"Violence against women is widely tolerated and even endorsed by
community leaders and at the highest levels of the government and
judiciary."

Examples include a man strangling his own daughter because she has been
raped and a judge reducing a rapist's sentence when he promises to marry
his victim.

The report is filled with accounts of young women forced into marriage,
or everyday violence, of an environment of intimidation and, at its
worst, of so-called "honour killings," where family members kill women
who have had extra-marital relationships or who have been raped.

Fear

A women's rights activist from Diyarbakir told Amnesty: "Excuses for
beating women at home include 'staring out of a window for a long
period', 'saying hello to male friends on the street', 'if the telephone
rings and there's no one on the other end', and 'spending too long
talking to shopkeepers'."

The Turkish police are criticised for failing to investigate alleged
violence and the courts continue to blame women who have been attacked,
raped or killed.

Amnesty does not suggest that violence against women is peculiar to
Turkey, but it says that a culture of violence can place women in double
jeopardy.

It says they are both victims and they are denied effective access to
justice.

Amnesty urged the Turkish government to ensure that shelters were
available for victims of domestic violence, and called on prosecutors
and police investigators to pursue the culprits of attacks on women.

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