By Nilay Kar Onum
ISTANBUL
“He was threatening me with death but I never thought that he wanted me to become permanently disabled,” says 29-year-old ‘Ayse’ – not her real name – who has survived domestic violence from her husband in central Turkey.
‘Ayse’, a mother of six, was shot in her legs and arms by her husband last year.
Her legs were eventually amputated and she cannot use her arms as they lack sensation. She is now living with family after staying in hospital for over two months.
Her husband — who is in prison for raping a mentally challenged woman — pulled a gun when Ayse pushed for divorce and refused to care for the woman her husband had assaulted, she claims.
“‘Ok, be divorced, but disabled,’” Ayse quotes her husband as saying, moments before he pulled the trigger at their home.
“Then, he shot at me many times,” she says.
This harrowing case is just one among thousands of incidents where women have been subjected to violence by their husbands in Turkey. Many of them have not survived this brutality.
Ozgecan Aslan, a 20 year-old female university student, was one of them. She did not experience violence in the home like Ayse but was attacked while returning to home in the southern city of Mersin on Feb. 13.
Her charred body was found after she went missing for two days. After the murder, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted a severe punishment for the killers.
Although three arrests were made, the case of the murdered student has rocked Turkey, sparking a national debate on violence against women.
According to Anit Sayac, an online application which tracks violence against women in Turkey, 46 women have been killed within two months this year across the country. This number was 288 last year and 232 in 2013.
On Feb. 16, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that his government was preparing a thorough action plan to fight violence against women in Turkey.
Davutoglu also said he told his ministers to carry out an effective analysis about the Aslan case to find out whether there were any flaws or deficiencies in the country’s existing laws on violence against women
According to Gulsum Kav, a representative of the Istanbul-based “Platform to Stop the Murder of Women,” there are some problems about existing laws on violence against women, and complains about the abatement of penalties.
“I think existing law No. 6284 [against domestic abuse] is not enforced enough and this paves the way for violence,” Kav told The Anadolu Agency. “The first step should be for reduced punishments to be lifted and aggravated life imprisonment to be applied.”
Some charges are reduced in the country, depending on defendant's character, the nature of the offence or strength of the evidence against the accused.
Acelya Ucan, a social service expert and a volunteer at Istanbul-based Mor Cati Women's Shelter Foundation thinks that the main problem behind violence against women is a “male-dominant society and social gender inequality.”
“We, as society, should avoid the approach that ‘he is your husband, what will happen if he slaps your face one time?’ This approach leads to murders. (…) If we connive with the violence, we cannot put an end to it.”
Abuse victim ‘Ayse’ – who was also stabbed by her husband two times in earlier incidents – speaks of a similar situation.
“My husband cheated on me many times; he did not come home for days and he was very aggressive and was misconstruing everything. (…) but I was standing him as he was father of my six children for years.”
‘Ayse’ also thinks existing punishments are not always sufficient but women’s strong stance is also important.
“I want all of those who used violence against women to be heavily punished or to be executed,” she says. “Men are resorting to violence by thinking that: ‘I will be released from prison anyway’ and they can resort to violence very easily.”
Turkey abolished death sentence more than a decade ago and replaced it with aggravated life imprisonment.
Ayse is deeply regretful as she lived an unhappy life with her husband for 14 years but did not leave.
“Women should not make the same mistake as me. They should not stand husbands if they use violence against them.”
