Women This Week: Women Demand that President Erdoğan Act to Address Domestic Violence

Violence Against Women, including Femicides, Increasing in Turkey 

Women in Turkey are demanding action to combat high levels of violence against women after a number of high-profile murders and femicides.  This week, the body of twenty-one-year-old Rojin Kabaiş, who had gone missing earlier this month, was found in eastern Turkey.  Two other girls, both nineteen years of age, were graphically killed by a nineteen-year-old suspect on the same afternoon earlier this month.  Ayşenur Halil was killed after the perpetrator slit her throat, and the second victim, İkbal Uzuner, was beheaded. In a third case, a policewoman was killed by a suspect with an existing criminal record. Protesters are demanding that the government take more action to protect women from violence.  “I want an end to the massacre of our girls,” said Gulizar Sezer, whose daughter’s body was found in June after being thrown into the sea. According to The Monument Counter, 319 women have been killed to date in 2024. Another organization—We Will Stop Femicides Platform—is reporting that men killed 34 women in September alone, with 20 additional women found dead in suspicious circumstances. Activists are pushing for stronger implementation of Law No. 6284, which provides protection for victims of domestic violence. “If 6284 was implemented, thousands of women’s lives would have been saved … But impunity is a systematic state policy,” Hülya Gülbahar argued. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has promised to impose tighter restrictions on sentencing and early releases.   

Female Ukrainian Journalist Dies in Russian Detention 

This week, Viktoria Roshchyna, a twenty-seven-year-old free-lance journalist from Ukraine, died in Russian detention. Roshchyna had traveled to a Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and was reported missing in August 2023. In April 2024, the Russian defense ministry informed her family that she had been arrested and was being held in Russia. Russian news sources claim that Roshchyna died while being transferred from a prison in the city of Taganrog to Moscow, where she was being prepared for a prisoner exchange. Roshchyna’s work was published in many Ukrainian media sources, and in 2022, she was honored with the Courage in Journalism award by the International Women’s Media Foundation. “We have every reason to believe that her death was either the result of a deliberate murder or the result of the cruel treatment and violence to which she was subjected during her time in Russian captivity,” wrote Ukrainian journalists in a statement. Approximately twenty-five other journalists are known to currently be in Russian detention, and many others are missing.  

Italy Bans Citizens from Seeking Surrogacy Abroad  

Under the leadership of President Giorgia Meloni, Italy has passed legislation expanding the existing ban on surrogacy within Italy to prevent Italian couples from traveling abroad for such services.  The legislation was proposed by Meloni’s conservative party and passed by 84 to 58 votes. Those who violate the law could face a fine of one million euros and prison sentences of up to two years.  Surrogacy has been banned in Italy since 2004, but many couples have traveled outside the country to find surrogates to start a family. Opponents claim that this legislation specifically targets LGBT+ couples.  as heterosexual couples will face less questioning if they return to Italy with a baby. Supporters of the legislation believe that surrogacy is “an inhumane practice” and “a symbol of an abominable society that confuses desire with rights and replaces God with money.” In response, Riccardo Magi, a parliamentarian who opposes the ban, commented, “Women’s bodies, wombs and freedom belong to women. Not to Giorgia Meloni. Not to this government.  Not to any government.” Meloni has pushed forward a conservative agenda to protect the “traditional family” that has divided the country.