democratization

Digital, online and social-media avenues undoubtedly offer an alternative or complementary channel for news, because of the inherent difficulty in censoring these spaces. Their wide reach and levels of engagement have saved lives during disasters or emergencies.

On January 17, news about a state hospital in one of the largest districts of Istanbul hit the headlines.

Today, on 20 November, is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Broader systemic inequalities still exist - especially in three crucial areas: gender identity/expression, sex work and migration.

The law, which women’s organizations and the parliamentary opposition have been protesting comprises significant changes in the regulation of marriage matters contrary to secular principles and to the disadvantage of women. Authorizing religious authorities, the muftis, to officiate marriages is only one of them. 

The Turkish education system has become a battlefield of both policies and ideologies in Turkey. The latest proof of that is the abolishment of the entrance exams for secondary education last month. 

Is it a coincidence that whenever news about sexual assaults against women and children are on the rise, magically from somewhere male politicians will appear suggesting to solve the issue by shoving women into gender-segregated busses and trains? 

In an incident last year in November, 11 children and one 18-year old staff member lost their lives after a fire broke out in a student dormitory for girls in the Aladağ district of the southern Turkish city of Adana.

The 15-years old Derya B. died in October 2016 shortly after giving birth to her first baby. Two underage mothers in Diyarbakır and two others in Muş recently died during labor. 

While the world keeps on talking about rhetorical disagreements between Turkish and European politicians, about Nazi-comparisons and cows the situation in southeast Turkey has been drifting out of the international focus.