海角大神

Disgusted by daily reports of men killing women in his native Turkey, film director Dersu Yavuz Altun made his protest in the way he knows best: on the big screen.

鈥淎yaz鈥� left some women physically shaking after its first showing here in November. An intense morality play, it was inspired by a real-life murder case in which, amid pressure to restore "honor,"聽 a man kills his brother's wife when she leaves him for someone else.

The film delves deeply into gender violence and inequality in Turkey, exploring the country鈥檚 鈥渕anly man鈥� macho culture and the corrosive impact of the crime beyond its immediate victim.

聽鈥淚 thought I killed a woman, but I killed myself and everyone left behind鈥� as well, one prisoner told Mr. Altun as he researched his film.

The director was struck by a realization, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a civil war in the country, it鈥檚 like a war against women by men.鈥�

That 鈥渨ar鈥� is raging against a complex backdrop, where Turkish aspirations to Western-style modernity clash with profoundly conservative social attitudes and an increasingly authoritarian government. Shockingly, Turkey also has one of the world鈥檚 highest rates of femicide 鈥� the murder of a woman on account of her gender.

In the first seven months of 2009, official figures showed, there were 953 cases of femicide, about one every five hours. The public outcry at this revelation聽鈥� and the steep, inexplicable rise leading up to it, according to official numbers 鈥撀爓as so great that the government has not published comparable statistics since.

Such figures stand in dismal contrast to the progress Turkey has made toward some aspects of gender equality, unusual in a part of the world governed by strict social聽mores.

Many women work in corporations and law firms. Turkey was ruled by a female prime minister,聽Tansu 脟iller, from 1993 to 1996. The country has a vocal women鈥檚 rights movement, and, spurred by European Union (EU) membership dreams a decade ago, parliament has done much to enshrine equal rights and protections for women in law.

But the country is sliding backward, analysts and activists say, as social and religious conservatism reasserts itself amid a crackdown against civil society that has helped turn women鈥檚 status and safety into a battleground.

Not long ago, hope reigned among women鈥檚 rights activists. In 2011, feminist groups were invited to parliament for the first time to help draft what became law No. 6284. That piece of legislation allowed courts to issue restraining orders against abusive men for up to six months, keeping them away from the wives they had victimized.聽

鈥淧eople鈥檚 minds were changing, because the government was doing a lot of things to change the minds of people, to make social change,鈥� says 脟i莽ek Tahao臒lu, an editor at the 鈥淏ianet鈥� website, which specializes in tracking gender issues.

The change was little more than skin deep, however, and the legislative defenses protecting women鈥檚 rights are fragile, argues one legal academic in Ankara who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of such issues.聽

鈥淲hen you look at the picture it is perfect, you have all the [laws] that you need,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n the Constitution you see all this equality and freedom, and even abolishing the death penalty.鈥澛�

But聽President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an聽has repeatedly indicated聽that he supports reimposition of capital punishment, she points out. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why you can鈥檛 feel sure about the freedoms and the rights you have. It can change so easily.鈥�

Backsliding?

And the mood in Turkey has changed in the wake of a failed military coup in 2016 that instilled a deeper聽mistrust of civil society in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Once a supportive voice for women, the party has backed away from women鈥檚 issues in parallel with its fading interest in meeting EU standards in social affairs.聽

鈥淚n the AKP鈥檚 first years it was doing a lot of good things, there was a lot of progress,鈥� says Tu臒莽e Canbolat, a senior administrator of Mor 脟ati, a shelter for battered women in Istanbul. But 鈥渢he AKP no longer works with women鈥檚 groups as they used to.鈥澛�

Indeed, there are signs that the government may be preparing to amend the landmark 2011 law protecting wives from their abusive husbands. The conservative, pro-AKP newspaper YeniAkit published an article last month, for example, linking an 鈥渆xplosion鈥� in the murder rate of women to the legal restraining聽orders, suggesting the law was made 鈥渨ithout paying attention to Turkish family structure."

It quoted a sociologist who suggested that imposed separation of a husband from his wife and the lack of a place to stay can 鈥渢urn into anger鈥� and 鈥渇eelings of revenge against his wife.鈥澛燗nother YeniAkit article in late December claimed that law No. 6284 鈥渉as destroyed the family nest."

Women鈥檚 groups marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women last November with a march in Istanbul to protest what they called the AKP鈥檚 鈥渕isogynist policies.鈥�

The groups鈥� spokeswoman, Mine Do臒ru, noted that the AKP was trying to make divorce more difficult when nearly half the women killed in 2017 lost their lives while they were trying to divorce or leave their partners.

The mood change is not restricted to the ruling party. Kemal K谋l谋莽daro臒lu, leader of the main opposition Republican People鈥檚 Party (CHP), appeared to justify domestic violence recently when he said baldly that 鈥渋f a man is unemployed, if not enough money comes into the household, and if the pot is not boiling in the evening, this man will take it out on his wife.鈥�

Wife beating is common well beyond poor households, however, to judge by figures from the official Turkish Statistical Institute. That government agency reported in 2015 that no fewer than 40 percent of women in Turkey 鈥渆xperience violence from their husbands or the partners that they live with.鈥�

The 2016 version of the report, however, inexplicably offers no update on that statistic, stating simply that 鈥渕arried men and women are happier.鈥澛�

This official tendency to conceal or gloss over the extent of violence against women undercuts Erdo臒an鈥檚 rhetoric on the issue, critics say.

His recent talking points have encouraged some women鈥檚 activists.聽鈥淎nyone who commits violence against women should be punished,鈥� the president said in November. 鈥淲hat did our prophet say? 鈥楬eaven is at the feet of our mothers.鈥� What I am doing here today is not simply a protocol; it is part of my wider duty in the struggle for women鈥檚 rights.鈥�

Erdo臒an used the speech to announce a new 鈥渁ction plan鈥� for women; he claimed that the AKP had carried out 鈥渉istoric reforms for women,鈥� and noted that his government finances 81 women鈥檚 shelters across the country.

But it was only three years ago that Erdo臒an said equality between men and women was 鈥渃ontrary to nature.鈥� And聽the authorities are doing little to challenge the social norms that sanction the violence against women that puts them in such shelters in the first place.

A long way to go

So others are taking up that challenge.

鈥淭alking with women is not enough,鈥� says Bahar Aldanmaz, a researcher at the Gender and Women鈥檚 Studies Research Center at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. 鈥淎s a feminist, I love having men in my education training programs, I love talking with them and trying to understand their perspective, because masculinity, and the definition of masculinity, is an important reason why we are experiencing all this.鈥�

鈥淏eing a man in Turkey, you have to be powerful, you have to be strong, you can鈥檛 cry,鈥� Ms. Aldanmaz points out. Men feel they have the power to do everything, and then 鈥� boom 鈥� we have all this [violence against women] happen.鈥�

The problem is deeply cultural, she says. 鈥淭he TV series we are watching, it鈥檚 crazy, it鈥檚 all about men owning women. There鈥檚 violence, there鈥檚 jealousy, and people love it. It鈥檚 about controlling, it鈥檚 the definition of relationships in Turkey. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 not shocking to have these rates of violence.鈥�

Aldanmaz says she has seen attitudes shift, and that she is not 鈥渟uper pessimistic鈥� about the prospect for more change.

But Turkey has a long way to go, cautions Ms. Tahao臒lu, the editor with Bianet.

鈥淕ender roles are so strict in Turkey,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f you are a woman you need to cook, you need to clean your house. The belief in these gender roles is so deep, and so integral to our culture and our society, that when you change them a little bit, people think it鈥檚 a really provocative thing to do.鈥澛�

鈥淭he solution is, first, we have to start seeing women as equals 鈥撀爐hat is the first step that has not happened in Turkey,鈥� she says. 鈥淲ithout doing that, everything else is artificial and ineffective.鈥�