ISTANBUL - Pointing out that women who act in self-defence cannot be punished, lawyer Dilşah Taş said: "Self-defence is a right. A woman's protection against the perpetrator of a crime is self-defence."

 

Purple Solidarity member Sevde Unal was arrested on February 1 for acting in self-defence against a man who wanted to harass her in Kocaeli in 2018. In the trial regarding the incident, Unal was sentenced to 5 years and 7 months in prison on the charge of "deliberate injury". The appeal against the decision was rejected by the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals. On the other hand, it was decided that there was no need for prosecution regarding the complaint that Unal made at that time regarding the harassment incident.

 

A similar punishment took place in Balıkesir. The acquittal decision given within the scope of "self-defence" for Rumeysa Aydın, who killed her husband Murat Aydın in self-defence after he had subjected her to violence and threatened her with death, was overturned by the Bursa Regional Court of Justice (BAM).

 

Newroz Unverdi, a member of the Women's Time Association, and Dilşah Taş, one of the lawyers of the Women's Time Association, made evaluations about the punishment of women in self-defence and the policy of impunity towards men.

 

'SHE IS ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE OF SELF-DEFENCE'

 

Referring to the arrest of Purple Solidarity member Sevde Unal due to her self-defence against the man who wanted to harass her, Newroz Unverdi said: “If Sevde had not self-defenced herself, she might not be among us today. Sevde is alive today because of self-defence. While dozens of women are murdered every month in Turkey, dozens of women are subjected to sexual assault, dozens of women are driven to suicide and no sanctions are imposed on the perpetrators of violence and sexual assault, the women who resist and gain their rights through their resistance on the streets are being punished very quickly. They go to prison. Sevde Unal was arrested, but we will continue our struggle. Because the women's struggle does not have a giving-up nature."

 

'SELF-DEFENCE IS A RIGHT'

 

Stating that the concept of "self-defence" is a concept defined in international criminal law, Dilşah Taş, lawyer of Women's Time Association, said: "Regardless of gender, the victim's defence of themself in order to prevent the sanction of a person who wants to commit a criminal act against them are self-defence and this is a right. Of course, a woman's protection against the perpetrator is in self-defence. A contrary interpretation is an indication that the law is not applied here. If you make a woman's defence of herself a matter of punishment, you want to pacify the woman, prevent her from seeking her rights, and drag her to a point where her rights are taken away. In other words, you want to enslave women to a society that has taken of all their rights and enslaved them."

 

HOW DO THE VICTIM AND THE VICTIMIZER CHANGE PLACES?

 

Reminding that the laws create areas where "positive discrimination" is granted to women in the face of situations that threaten women's lives, Taş pointed out that the opposite practices are applied in the trials. Taş said: "As in the example of Sevde's file, in a case where a woman is a victim of sexual assault, the man is the perpetrator, but as a result of the file, the woman is seen as guilty of 'intentional wounding'. Here, no evaluation is made regarding defence and at the same time, the man is not tried as the perpetrator of the 'sexual harassment crime' in any way. In other words, men, who are actually the real criminals, are victimized within this system, and women's victimization continues to increase in this way."

 

REFLECTION OF IMPUNITY ON SOCIETY

 

Evaluating the reflections of the policy of impunity on society, Taş said: "When we look at how the policy of impunity reflects on society, while positive discrimination should be given to women in order for women to find a place for themselves in the order, in addition, men are given power and a wide area is allocated, thus preparing the ground for them to commit the crimes defined in the law. The man says, 'Even if I commit a crime and kill the woman, even if I beat her, even if I commit the crime of sexual assault, the state is behind me anyway.' Because the practice gives them this courage. With the courage they have acquired from the practice, they engage in such acts and in this case, crimes against women and children increase."

 

PARTNERSHIP OF GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIALITY

 

Emphasizing that judicial decisions regarding women cannot be evaluated independently of the government's current perspective on women, Taş continued as follows: “We are faced with a mentality that wants to isolate women from all areas of life and confine them to the home. Under these conditions, women have to struggle more. Because women are told, 'If you are subjected to violence, be silent, you have to protect the family institution. There is a social structure that says, 'If you encounter sexual assault, keep quiet so that your father's surname is not tarnished', and we are faced with a government that brings this to the judiciary through regulations. At this point, we have to clarify human and women's rights, prioritize positive discrimination and keep the legal regulations in a way that will always protect women.”