HDP’s Women’s Parliament Group issued the statement expressing fear about the violence occurring in Turkey following a failed coup on July 15 and a subsequent purge of the military and civil society as Ankara sought to eradicate all alleged coup-supporters.
Remembering earlier coups and crackdowns, the women’s group said that coups are dark, painful times and stressed that women are always victims of such days.
They stressed the need for safe streets, where women are confident they can participate in society without fear of violence. But what they are seeing instead is more men “on the street, men are in uniforms, men were in politics. Their methods were male. Their struggle was not for democracy, but for power.”
Women need to be assured that this is still their country and the role women play in society is respected. “Streets have meaning when they are filled with thousands of colorful women with different thoughts, styles and diversities,” the statement reads.
“We, as women, shall continue to fight against coups and all restrictions, violations of human rights, male dominance and militarism on the streets,” they conclude. “No one of us should lose our hearts; as women, we shall reorganize a collective fight against coups and all pressures. We shall raise our voice together.”
A report from the International Women’s Initiative, based on meetings that took place just days before the attempted coup, noted that women’s rights have never been a priority for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and violence against women and inequality was widespread.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has undermined women’s rights by saying a woman who chooses to work is “denying her femininity” and any woman who does not have children is “deficient.”
After the coup, the situation for women is even worse. “The coup, the war, AKP’s backwardness or jihadist mobs … they all target women,” said feminist group University Women’s Collective in a statement.
An executive at the Trabzonspor football club, Veysel Taskin, tweeted, “The properties and the wives of the infidel coup-plotting bastards are spoils of war.”
He later resigned after facing a backlash for his comment but he is not alone in objectifying and denigrating women after the coup. Reports of sexual violence against women have increased since the coup.
