On November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Women's Commission of the United Metalworkers’ Union read statements in the factories. In Gebze, women workers who read the statements at shift entrances and exits raised their voices and affirmed their commitment to this struggle, saying “No to violence against women, harassment and mobbing in workplaces.”

The statements included the following:

“Women are killed by the men who are closest to them under various pretenses. Women face physical, sexual, psychological, and economic violence, as well as harassment at home, on the street, and in their workplaces. The violence women face is upheld by centuries of unequal power relations between men and women, as well as a male-dominated capitalist order that diminishes the status of women in all aspects of life and exploits their labour."

Women members of General-Labour Izmir No. 2 Branch took to the streets against violence

In a press release issued by the DISK/General-Labor No. 2 Branch Women's Commission, the slogan "Long live women's solidarity against the pandemic of violence" was chanted.

The women union members who said "Long live women's solidarity against the pandemic of violence," also chanted the slogans "Shout and let everyone hear, male violence must end," and "Don’t be silent, speak up, the union is a right."

General-Labour (Genel-İş) No. 2 Branch Board Member Zeynep Zarıçlar, who read the press release, said that they welcomed November 25th, a date that commemorates the struggle of the Mirabal sisters who fought against the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and were assassinated in 1960, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic this year.

"More than 400 women have been killed, 122 women have been molested, 226 children have been abused and 79 women have been raped this year," Zarıçlar said.

Zarıçlar listed their demands as follows:

    • Let the Istanbul Convention and Law No. 6284 be enforced

    • Approve Convention 190 "Eliminating Violence and Harassment in the World of Work" adopted by the ILO last year

    • Create full-time and secure employment opportunities, not “flexible” temporary and part-time employment. Develop special measures for women who have lost employment and income in those sectors most affected by pandemic.

    • All workers should benefit from unemployment and reduced-hours payments during the pandemic. Pregnant women, those on maternity leave, people with disabilities, and those over 60 years of age should be allowed administrative leave during the pandemic.

PROTESTS ON THE STREETS OF BUCA IN IZMIR PROVINCE

Women from Dikili and the Buca Women’s Platform in Izmir Province made announcements to coincide with November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Hülya Altun, a spokesperson for the Women's Platform, read the text in a press release held in Buca’s Çevik Bir Square. She emphasized the responsibility of authorities for the collapse of buildings in the 2020 Izmir earthquake, going on to say that the Women’s Platform’s organized public presence was in support of those women who lost employment as a result of the pandemic and now face domestic violence.

Altun, one of many women struggling to maintain her children's education under conditions brought on by the pandemic, said "we are of the will and in a contest to organize our voice, to come together and change the conditions of our lives,” that however much the assaults on women’s rights intensify, they would not retreat a single step.

İZMİR-DİKİLİ: "GIVE UP DISCRIMINATORY AND MISOGYNIST POLICIES"

Women in Dikili came together in Atatürk Square and called for expansion in the fight against violence against women, saying, "We are in the streets for Işık, Zümrüt, Çilem and all the women who have been killed." It was announced, "We, women know that we will win in our fight against all the kinds of male-state violence that we experience through common struggle and solidarity. Once again, we cry out; ‘Violence against women is political, not individual,’ and it is fed by the political violence that upholds reactionary, militarist, misogynist-discriminatory policies, whose abandonment will bring an end to the violence women face.”

İSTANBUL’S ESENYALI NEIGHBORHOOD: THE SOLUTION TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IS ORGANIZED STRUGGLE!

Members of the Esenyalı Women's Solidarity Association issued a press statement in their neighborhood where they announced, “We are speaking out against the murders of women, violence against women, gender inequality, and the public endangerment of women,” pointing out that violence against women continued without pause during the pandemic, chanting slogans like "Long live women's solidarity," "Don’t blame the victim, prevent violence," and "Shout and let everyone hear, so that violence against women may end.”

In a statement that mentioned the struggle of the Mirabal sisters, it was said: "The violence, murders of women, poverty and inequality experienced by women at home, at work, on the street, and in all aspects of life has increased with the pandemic. In the first ten months of 2020, 474 women were killed by their closest relatives. Our sisters are not with us today because of misogynist policies, and the state’s failure to fully implement the Istanbul Convention and Law No. 6284 concerning violence against women. The economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as poverty, have increased women’s exposure to violence at home and in the workplace. Facing threats of unpaid leave and unemployment by their bosses, women workers are unable to resist forced overtime and increased pressures in the workplace."

KOCAELİ YENİKENT NEIGHBORHOOD: WE WANT TO LIVE FREE AND EQUAL LIVES, SECURE FROM VIOLENCE

The Kocaeli Bread and Rose Women's Solidarity Association issued a press release in Derince's Yenikent Neighborhood:

"We do not even account for the psychological and economic violence that we experience every day. Without any kind of government protections, without implementing any emergency preventative measures, they tried to lock women in their homes, where they face the greatest risk of violence and murder. With the implementation of work-from-home measures and the closing of schools, they saddled us with paid labor, domestic labor, and childcare, expecting us to work 24/7, as though we were machines.

"Just as we defend our rights without abandoning one another; we will not allow our right to alimony to be challenged at every opportunity. Just as we have not allowed laws that legitimize sexual abuse to be passed since 2016, today we do not allow the perpetrators of male violence and women’s murders to be released without trial!

"We want equal pay, secure work, and a life where scientific measures address the conditions brought on by the pandemic, where child and elderly care is guaranteed by the state, and where we have access to our social rights."

ANKARA-BATIKENT: WE WILL CONTINUE TO OCCUPY THE STREETS

Women made a press statement in Ankara’s Batıkent Square. Bahar Polat, reading the statement on behalf of the women in Batıkent, said that she wakes up to daily reports of massacres of women, adding that violence has become a means of governance in the lives of women under the AK Party. Polat said that with these circumstances, withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention has become an item on the state’s agenda: "The characterization of the Istanbul Convention as an article of debate emboldens the murderers of women and paves the way for the massacres of women. We women defend the Istanbul Convention and know how vital it is for us."

PROSECUTORS DID NOT TAKE ACTION AGAINST SUSPECTS IN 7 OUT OF 10 CASES INVOLVING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

CHP Vice President Gamze Akkuş İlgezdi announced on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, that between 2012 and 2019, prosecutors did not take action against 18,551 out of 25,481 suspects in cases involving violence against women, citing "lack of grounds for prosecution." İlgezdi said, "As a result of this attitude, which emboldens those who commit violence against women, 73 percent of the perpetrators who were processed by the prosecutor's office between 2012 and 2019, or 7 out of 10 suspects, walk freely among us.”

Ilgezdi said that during this period, criminal cases were filed against only 4,910 suspects. “The number of suspects not being charged on the grounds that there is 'lack of grounds for prosecution' is increasing steadily with each passing year. In 2012, 47 percent of perpetrators were found to have a 'lack of grounds' decision, compared to 82 percent in 2019." (EVRENSEL DAILY)