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http://www.todayszaman.com/national_femicide-continues-unabated-in-turkey-amid-protests-over-ozgecan-death_373047.html

 

TURKEY – PUBLIC OUTCRY ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN & FEMICIDE

 

Femicide continues unabated in Turkey amid protests over Özgecan death

Police examine a dumpster where the dismembered body of a woman was put on Monday by her husband in İstanbul’s Çengelköy neighborhood. (Photo: DHA)

 

19 February 2015 - A woman was killed and subsequently mutilated this week by her husband in İstanbul's Çengelköy neighborhood, only a week after 20-year-old Özgecan Aslan was brutally murdered in Mersin province on Feb. 11, an event that has sparked protests throughout the country.

 

A 43-year-old man suffering from schizophrenia was detained on Wednesday for allegedly killing his wife and dismembering her body. According to Turkish media reports, the man, identified as T.K., reported his wife missing to the police. However, he later confessed to having killed her on Monday after “losing control” and stabbing her several times. He reportedly told the police that he had put his wife's body in a bag after cutting it into four pieces. He said he later threw the bag into a dumpster.

 

Police found the body near the couple's house. News reports quoted neighbors as saying that the woman had been frequently subjected to domestic violence.

The murder comes with Turkey still grieving the gruesome killing of Aslan, with growing protests across the country against violence targeting women. The protests against Aslan's murder continued unabated on Thursday. A protest was held by the female deputies of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) in Ankara's Elmadağ district. The protesters wore black outfits and marched shouting slogans condemning violence against women. Among the slogans were “Don't forget Özgecan and don't let people forget her” and “Women, life and freedom.”

 

Speaking on behalf of the crowd, Damla Kızıltürk accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the killing of women in Turkey, emphasizing that thousands of women have been killed during the 12 years that the AK Party has been in power.

A group of members from various civil society organizations and the CHP also held a demonstration in Finike, Antalya province, on Thursday, with both men and women in attendance. The men shouted the slogan “If raping is manhood, I am not a man.”

 

Hundreds of people marched for Aslan while holding torches in the provinces of Balıkesir, Bartın, Bolu, Hakkari, and Muş on Wednesday evening. The crowds in these protests called on the authorities to stop the widespread violence against women by adopting strict deterrent penalties.

 

Aslan was last seen alive heading home on a minibus on the afternoon of Feb. 11. Her body was found near the village of Çamalan, about 40 kilometers from Tarsus, on Feb. 13. Aslan was killed and her body burned after she reportedly tried to resist a sexual assault. The murder has sparked public outrage, leading to mass demonstrations, especially by women, across Turkey over the past few days.

 

Minibus driver Ahmet Suphi Altındöken, his father Necmettin Altındöken and their alleged accomplice Fatih Gökçe were placed under arrest by a Mersin court on Monday. The court ordered the arrest of the minibus driver on the charge of murder, while his father and Gökçe were arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the concealment of a crime.

 

AK Party deputy blames TV shows for murders of women

İsmet Uçma, an AK Party İstanbul deputy and a member of the parliamentary Research Commission on the Causes of Violence against Women, has accused TV shows of being responsible for the increase in the prevalence of violence against women in Turkey. Uçma said the institution of the family is degenerating because of TV serials and the “inappropriate” relationships they portray, leading the public to lose its values and its respect for the family. Uçma also emphasized that the institution of the family should be reinforced in order to prevent similar murders from taking place in Turkey.