Turkey shaken by femicides
After the murder of a 27-year-old student by her ex-boyfriend the campaign group We Will Stop Femicide has called for nationwide protests in Turkey. According to the organisation 474 women were murdered in Turkey in 2019, but the real figure is likely to be far higher. Turkish commentators try to explain the roots of the violence.
Just look around you
Columnist Ayşe Düzkan denounces the way society and politics deal with men in Artı Gerçek:
“How do men become so inhumane, why do they end up like this? In my opinion, the answer is simple: incitement and exemption from punishment. ... Look at the men in your circle of acquaintances. Aren't there some who constantly boast about their masculinity, who only seek the company of women who find them sexually attractive, who are unable to form a human bond, a friendship with a woman? ... Men who commit violent acts always get a reduced sentence in court and benefit from many other privileges if they are public servants. And if no one inquires about it the trials against them are simply forgotten.”
Men can't handle their loss of control
The psychological impact of the consumer society contributes to these crimes, comments columnist Süleyman Seyfi Öğün explains in the Islamic-conservative daily Yeni Şafak:
“Some interpret these developments as 'an oppression of femininity and an incitement of masculinity'. I don't agree with this view. The consumer society incites violence in both women and men. And in between there is no way to get your feet back on the ground. ... Women are escaping the control of men. And that drives men crazy. Who owns the commercial property rights on women? Sometimes men worship women as angels and sometimes they curse them as devils and lose control and their ownership rights. What remains is a sense of powerlessness - and its inevitable result is violence.”