The first Parliament performances on display of miniature examples of the presidential system are on the stage. As soon as the parliament was opened, the war memorandum was passed, Besime Konca's (Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP)) deputy status was revoked, the draft bill that gives religious leaders the right to solemnize marriages was brought to the commission hastily, and the report full of unimaginable proposals of the commission established to prevent divorces was voted in the parliamentary general assembly.
Meanwhile, we have just learned that the decision of prison sentence to Ayşe Çelik, who called into a national TV show and said 'Children shouldn’t die', was finalized and she will have to give birth to her child in prison. While the right to solemnize marriages by religious leaders and the report of the Commission on the Prevention of Divorce were being heavily defended by the ruling party, we received the news that women who had taken refuge in the state because of domestic violence or divorce were murdered by their husbands.
Just on the following day, when the women said “The laws that we don’t consent can’t be passed like this, these laws can’t be passed for an equal and free life.” for the first time we noticed that the parliament gives “more space for women” when deputy status of Besime Konca, who has proposed many law proposals and signed parliamentary questions for the equality and freedom of women, was revoked; 4 deputies out of five whose deputy status was revoked were women.
It is quite striking that the report of the Commission on the Prevention of Divorce, which is a document of the women policies of AKP government with the proposals thatattack the historical achievements of women, was made a current issue again 1,5 years later after its preparation, and that draft bill that gives religious leaders the right to solemnize marriages was brought to the commission hastily, and that all these were proposed on the agenda just on the first day of the parliament.
The commission report brought to the parliament includes proposals that clear the way for male violence, which is strictly prohibited by law and international conventions, weaken the mechanisms that protect women from violence, and pave the way for children to be married to their rapists. It is also recommended in the report that mediation and reconciliation methods are to be used in divorce and violence cases.
It also wants the caution periodfor the husband to be restricted to 15 days, which makes it impossible to provide effective protection for the women, and expects women to present “evidence” of violence. It says that theprotection will not be maintained to people who do not document that they receive death threat. It suggests that the doors of refuge houses to be closed to women who are exposed to violence within working hours, and that women are to go to judicial and governor’s offices. As it was discussed last year, it legitimizes the release of child abuser under the condition thatthe child who has been raped and the rapist have a 'smooth' and 'successful' marriage with her for 5 years.
The issue is clear: The government wants to gain an important ground for the holistic changes that will be made in terms of civil rights by giving the authority of official marriagetoreligious leaders. They try to systematize many practices that have already been put in action in order to condemn women into a life full of violence through state coercion with the help of Commission report on Prevention of Divorce.
The legitimacy of this government,which insists on doing the same mistakes by ignoring the existence of women who make an effort to express their ideas in the streets and even in the parliament despite the state of emergency, is equal to the affection of the husband who murders the wife when she wants a divorce.
Sevda Karaca
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir
