Why do girls and women keep dying in Turkey?

Most recent case sparks outrage yet again

Originally published on Global Voices

Narin Güran's name and her whereabouts kept Turkey on edge ever since the news of the eight-year-old going missing hit the country on August 21. On September 8, 19 days later, the minister of the interior announced the search was over as the authorities had found the body of the girl near the village of Tavşantepe in Turkey's southeastern province of Diyarbakır. The minister promised the harshest punishment for the committed crime.

Twenty-four people, including the girl's family members, have been detained as part of the investigation. According to reporting by Hurriyet Daily News, “initial findings indicated that Narin was killed, and her body was placed inside a sack, which was then brought to the stream and submerged.” A confession by one of the detained residents of the village brought further horror to a story that is all too familiar in a country that withdrew from the Istanbul Convention in 2021 and struggles with offering adequate protection for girls and women when it comes to violence and domestic abuse.

At least 14 girls were killed in the first seven months of 2024. Narin's name is atop the list of a tracker run by a local initiative, We Will Stop Femicides, which documents cases of murdered women. As of September 2024, 268 women have been killed. The state statistics committee's last report on missing children was published in 2016, which is when the institution stopped publishing that data.

Confession

Narin's uncle, Salim Güran is the village mayor. He was detained on August 31 and arrested on September 2 on charges of intentional killing, after investigation revealed there were DNA samples in the uncle's car matching that of his missing niece. On September 9, a confession from one of detained suspects revealed that Salim instructed the suspect to get rid of the body on August 21 and offered the resident TRY 200,000 [about USD 5,800]. The suspect said he took the body from Salim's car, and, with Salim's help, placed it in a sack that the suspect found in his car's trunk and drove to a near creek as per instructions received from the uncle. The man also said that, after disposing of the body, he went home, performed his prayer and then joined the search and rescue operation.

The suspect also said he was afraid of Salim and that Salim may frame him, so, when gendarmerie showed up at his own home, he decided to confess to what he has done.

T24, a news platform, reported how other members of the family deleted their WhatsApp exchanges. Investigators are now working with Meta to retrieve deleted conversations as part of the investigation.

The full autopsy results will only be available in fifteen days. Preliminary results indicated there were no visible signs of injuries from a sharp object, firearm, or internal bleeding. However due to the length of time it remained in the sack, Narin's body was already severely decomposed as per reporting by Bianet.

On September 9, Turkey's broadcast regulator, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) lifted the broadcast ban imposed on August 29.

Growing numbers and failing policies

A number of protests and initiatives by various women's organizations were organized in Diyarbakir, Istanbul, Ankara, Elazig as well as other provinces. Demands for state accountability and criticism of state policies influenced by religious values and outdated norms were raised across all protests.

Veteran journalist Sedef Kabas, shared a video of former Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdag, in which he justified child rape saying, “these are not rapists, these are not people who committed the crime of sexual abuse by force. These things were made fully with consent of the families and with the consent of the little girls.” The minister made those comments during parliamentary discussions about a proposal to pardon child rapists in cases they decided to marry their victims. The proposal was dropped following country-wide uproar.

Such neglect on a state level is an all too common occurrence in Turkey. Following the devastating February earthquake, the country's state religious body Diyanet said it would permit adults to marry adopted children who were left orphaned in the aftermath. The statement was later removed following public backlash.

In 2022, following the release of report, Emma Sinclair-Webb, Europe and Central Asia Division associate director, at Human Rights Watch said in an interview that the reasons for gender-based violence being prevalent in Turkey were manifold:

The government’s approach to combating violence against women is framed in paternalistic, conservative terms. The authorities see it as part of a national duty to protect women, whom they see as vulnerable and breakable, and to support the institution of the family. Turkey’s president is on record opposing gender equality and it has been written out of government policy. So while we are seeing government efforts to tackle violence against women, the government simultaneously undermines its own efforts by not seeing the fight against domestic violence as part of promoting women’s rights or ensuring gender equality.

Another report published in 2023 by the Turkish Women's Associations Federation (TKDF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Turkey, found out in 8 out 10 people subjected to violence were women, that 73 percent of women subject to violence were married and that men were perpetrators of violence in 90 percent of registered cases divided among spouses (63 percent), and family members (21 percent).

According to We Will Stop Femicides platform, 315 women were killed by men, and 248 women were found dead in suspicious circumstances as per platform's documentation for 2023.

Turkey signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. According to the Turkish Justice Ministry’s crime statistics, there has been a 4 percent decrease in reported cases in which there was sexual abuse of children in 2023. However, according to its last year's report, that number increased by 33 percent compared to the previous year.

In an interview with Turkey ReCap last year, Ezgi Koman, a child development specialist and co-founder at the FISA Child Rights Center (FİSA Çocuk Hakları Derneği), while commenting on the growing number of instances of sexual abuse against children, said it was due to a lack of policies and the normalization of abuse in the country. “We can only see cases of neglect, abuse and violence related to children on society’s main agenda when a ‘cruel’ action is taken. So, almost all other types of abuse can be perceived as more ‘acceptable’ or even worse, ‘legitimate.’”

Journalist Nevsin Mengu criticized the parents’ decision to place a wedding gown atop of Narin’s coffin, saying it was emblematic of the situation in Turkey that an eight-year-old girl was killed on the day the academic year began, and her parents placed a wedding gown atop her coffin. “If you are looking for symbolism, this is it. Why would a little girl want to wear a wedding dress? Because this is the kind of life girls are offered in this village. That they will be someone’s wife. And here we are, with people saying she was going to start school today.” The parents later explained that her cousin’s wedding was approaching and Narin had asked her parents to buy her a wedding dress for the wedding.

In his address on September 9, following cabinet meeting, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to follow the investigation closely and bring perpetrators of the crime to justice. But such statements ring hollow when similar statements were made in the past. Just two years ago the spokesperson for the ruling Justice and Development Party, Ömer Çelik, said the party was closely following the investigation of a child bride scandal that shook the country to its core. “We condemn the abuse of children. Child abuse is a cursed crime that will never be forgiven,” tweeted Çelik in response to mounting criticism. The trial in this case continues, and the next hearing is scheduled for September 23.

Written by Arzu Geybullayeva