HDP’s Dundar: 18 of 20 women’s deaths in Mardin were suspicious

* Photo: Duruş Haber

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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Mardin MP Pero Dundar has addressed a Parliamentary question to Minister of Family and Social Services Minister Derya Yanık and asked her four questions about the suspicious deaths of women in Turkey's southeastern province of Mardin.

Underlining that gender inequality brings about violence against women, feminicides and poverty, HDP's Pero Dundar has indicated that women are pushed to death under the name of suicide.

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'Government attacks women's rights'

Referring to Turkey's withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention by a Presidential decision as well, Dundar has noted that "with the pandemic, it is reported both in the official records and the press that violence, poverty and impoverishment faced by women have been aggravated."

Addressing the issue in reference to the appointment of trustees to the HDP municipalities, the HDP MP has said, "But, instead of preventing violence against women, the massacre and poverty of women, the government has closed women's centers and shelthers by the hand of trustees; it has withrawn from the İstanbul Convention, the most comprehensive convention in the struggle against violence targeting women."

She has stressed that "because there are no mechanisms that they can apply to or the existing mechanisms are not put into operation, women are forced to keep on living in an environment of violence."

Referring to women's struggle for their rights and lives, saying "Feminicides are political", HDP's Pero Dundar has said that "in the meanwhile, new attacks target women's rights and gains every day."

Women's deaths in Mardin

Addressing specifically to the suspicious deaths or murders of women in Mardin province, Dundar has stated, "20 women lost their lives in Mardin in the last year, 18 of these deaths were suspicious."

"The closure of the municipality's centers for fighting violence against women by the hands of trustees in Mardin and the disclosure of the files of the women who applied to these centers have an undeniable impact on the increase in violence and massacres targeting women.

"As for the centers that have not been closed, they are kept in operation outside their functions and have become centers of the policies and practices that make inequality more aggravated," she has said.

'Why has Turkey withdrawn from the Convention?'

Emphasizing that there are no sanctions about this issue, Dundar has protested that "even though they brought the attacks on women's centers into the Parliamentary agenda with Parliamentary questions and inquiries several times before, the related ministries have not given any positive or negative response" to the related questions and inquiries.

She has reiterated that "instead of inquiring women's causes of death or preventing violence and deaths by taking the necessary measures, İstanbul Convention, which defends women's rights in the most comprehensive way possible and which is the guarantee of women's lives, was targeted and the government withdrew from the convention by a midnight decree."

Questions to the Minister

Within this context, HDP Mardin MP Pero Dundar has asked Minister of Family and Social Services Derya Yanık the following questions:

- While 20 women, 18 of whom suspiciously, lost their lives in Mardin in the last year according to the records, why has the government withdrawn from the İstanbul Convention, instead of enforcing it?

- Why did the İstanbul Convention, every article of which aims to prevent violence against women, to ensure gender equality, to raise awareness and to prevent hate speech, became a target of the government?

- Parliamentary questions were submitted to your Ministry regarding the enforcement of the İstanbul Convention, which contains the measures to be taken and the policies to be introduced to enable women to lead a life where they are not dependent on men and where there is no violence, murder or suspicious death. How many of these Parliamentary questions have you answered? How many Parliamentary questions about this issue have not been answered by your Ministry? What is the reason for your Ministry for not giving an answer to the questions about the issue?

- How many women have applied to the Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers (ŞÖNİM) in Mardin and its districts since the outbreak of the pandemic? (BS/EMK/SD)