Prosecutors have filed a lawsuit aimed at shutting down one of the nation’s most respected women’s rights groups, We Will Stop Femicide Platform, accusing it of being “against morality.”
A lawsuit has been filed to shut down Turkey’s prominent “We Will Stop Femicide Platform.” The platform, which campaigns for ending femicide in Turkey and frequently criticizes the Turkish government for inadequate laws to combat violence against women, said the lawsuit was filed by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office is accusing the platform of “acting against the law and morality.”
“Attack against the entire democratic public opinion”
“We do not see this lawsuit filed against our We Will Stop Femicide Platform an attack only against our struggle. We know this attack is one against the entire democratic public opinion,” the group said in a statement.
It is the latest move against civil society, already riled by president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decision to withdraw Turkey from the Istanbul convention on violence against women last year. This sparked large protests, many organised by WWSF, which brought a harsh police response.
The lawsuit came after various petitions of complaints against the association that “constituted a strong suspicion of crime,” said the platform. However, it noted, the complaints included accusations that are not based on any tangible evidence, such as “undermining the family under the guise of defending women’s rights.”
“Trying to make up crimes against us with these unlawful and baseless allegations is deplorable even in terms of the current legal order. While we are calling the political power, prosecutors and courts to duty in favor of women, they are debating the interlocutors of this issue with such empty cases. The whole public knows that there is no courthouse in this region where the We Will Stop Femicide Platform does not take action. From our point of view, this case is not separate from women’s struggle for life, equality and freedom.”
Esin Yeşilırmak, a lawyer with the KCDP, said they won’t allow their association to be shut down with unlawful evidence.
“Because the women’s movement is on the rise in Turkey”
It was a grotesque action, said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director of Human Rights Watch. “It’s very provocative,” she said. “The authorities know perfectly well that this is a highly successful and very visible campaign.”
Şükran Eroğlu, from the Istanbul Bar Association’s women’s rights centre, said she had anticipated the authorities’ attack on WWSF after changes to the law earlier this year limiting freedom of association. “We knew that this would have consequences,” she said. “So this would definitely start with women’s associations, because the women’s movement is on the rise in Turkey.”
Hundreds of people have demonstrated in several Turkish cities including Istanbul and Ankara against a move to close one of the country’s most respected women’s rights groups.
“It is not possible to stop our fight. We are not going to allow the closure of our association,” the secretary-general of We Will Stop Femicide, Fidan Ataselim, told AFP.
Sources: Duvar English, Guardian, Bianet English