Democratization

In work accidents, Turkey is placed near the top both in Europe and the world.

In order to protest Hande Kader’s murder, the last hoop in a long chain of hate crimes, LGBTI groups and women’s organizations gathered on the 21st of August under the slogan, that “trans murders are political” and asked for justice for both Hande and all the others who were victims of the “state-backed male violence”. 

A religious sect now defies the strongest political party in Turkey. There must be a reason for this alarming self-confidence. Is it rooted in history; that is, does the sect have a long heritage?

Academics for Peace have made a call to “everybody who sides with peace and free thought” to join them on the 20th when they will gather in front of the YÖK building in Ankara to speak out –again- against policies of war, both in Turkey and the world, defend the right to life, and be in solidarity with their colleagues who are being exposed to pressures because they have stood for those principles.

Although the Ensar case revealed the situation in officially non-recognized dormitories affiliated with religious foundations, there have been many other cases brought into light recently, where students –boys and girls- have been exposed to sexual abuse, even violence by their teachers and principals in state schools, particularly boarding schools. 

While Turkey is currently going through a period of grave repressions of the freedom of expression, which targets academicians, journalists, and human rights activists in particular, the sequential yet spontaneous protest actions undertaken by high school students have been evaluated as hope-inspiring and courageous many liberal activists.

Çilem Doğan's case attracted wide public interest and mobilized a committed network of women's organizations which not only supported her in terms of legal assistance, but used her story to defend the legitimacy of women reclaiming their lives by resorting to counter-violence in self-defense. 

The book of Femicide Is Preventable Campaing which is composed of Femicide Action Research, Conference on Urgent Action to Stop Femicide, Guide to Reporting on Femicide and Femcide Urgent Action Plan has been published.

Bakur, a feature-length documentary produced in 2015, was to be screened as part of the non-competing category in the Istanbul Film Festival organized annually by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV). However, neither this documentary nor many of the films and documentaries which were to participate in the film festival were able to be screened. The apparent reason was that Bakur: A Guerilla Documentary did not have the registration document required by the Ministry of Culture.1 The fact that the registration document was not demanded until the date of the documentary’s screening caused public indignation and 21 filmmakers whose films were to be screened in the festival withdrew their films from the festival to support the producer and directors of Bakur.2

The provision which allows the police to conduct strip searches and wiretapping without a judge’s permission is an instrument which will bolster plans to intern public “enemies” on a large scale. The legal system gives place to detention camps, and citizens turn into “enemies”.