TURKEY – The judicial system in Kurdistan and Turkey has turned into a decision-making authority within the scope of the policies of the political power. It is the practitioner of the practice called ‘impunity’ in the legal literature, which protects the perpetrator men, especially in the massacres of women, and gives punishments below the punishment they should receive.
What is the definition of impunity that is constantly used in political files and why is it on the agenda? Why does the judicial system handle impunity processes? How does the impunity policy of the Turkish judiciary encourage the perpetrators?
Attorney Hatice Demir, member of the Board of Directors of Amed Bar Association, stated that the policy of impunity is actually not subjecting the perpetrators of the crime to effective and adequate investigations. Stating that impunity is the process that starts with not collecting the necessary evidence on time and not making a trial in favor of the perpetrator, Atty. Demir noted that in the end, it refers to a situation where the sentence given is either incomplete or not given at all.
THE JUDICIARY MEDIATES TO SECONDARY WOMEN
Stating that they see the practices of impunity mostly in the cases of political violence against women, Atty. Demir said: “In the past, in the human rights literature, impunity was used only to describe the situation regarding the prosecution of perpetrators who fulfill their public duties due to the damages caused by the institutions and actors of the state. However, the work of the women’s movement on a global scale has started to reveal the achievements in the field of human rights, and now the cases of violence against women have resulted in impunity. This issue of impunity has turned into a concept that is also used in the field of women’s rights. When we look at the current judicial order and practice in Turkey, we see that the judiciary is an institution that mediates the subordination of women. Because both the legal regulations and their reflections in the courts are completely based on the male experience. Unfortunately, it is not possible to talk about a woman’s experience, her existence and her needs here.”
THE PATHERIC SYSTEM IS DEVILIZING WOMEN
Pointing out that in the patriarchal system in general, there is a preconception that demonizes and condemns women under all circumstances, Atty. Hatice Demir said, “This is actually very concrete data showing us how the patriarchal patterns of society shape all institutions. If we take the Pınar Gültekin file as a basis at the current stage, in fact, all these are the results of how these patriarchal patterns and the culture created by it are reflected on the judicial practitioners and how they are transformed into decisions. Because judicial practitioners are not free from the reality and culture of this society. It is precisely in this society that they are shaped. Based on this male experience, they reach a certain consciousness, life and outlook. This translates into something very influential on their decisions. We are women’s rights activists, women’s organizations working in the field of women’s rights,
PERSON IS PROTECTED IF MAN
Hatice Demir gave the information that women’s organizations and activists carrying out the aforementioned struggle have been subjected to many obstructions and judicial harassment and shared the following: In fact, we see that criminal proceedings are used as a tool of social and political control. These control tools are being tested a lot on us as well. Kurdish women are tested a lot by this. We see this dual law issue a lot, especially in terms of the Kurdish Women’s Movement. But on the other hand, what we see in the cases where women in the courts are victims, actually manifests in two ways. One is the reflections of gender inequality in this whole judicial mechanism. In other words, the equality of men and women is not taken as a basis. The other is, in fact, the policy of impunity. This policy of impunity appears much more concretely, especially if the perpetrator of the crime is a male, a public official, a Turk, that is, someone who enjoys all the privileges of Turkish law.”
PRIVILEGES OF TURKISH LAW
Emphasizing that those who benefit from the privileges of Turkish law, even if they are perpetrators during the judicial process, they are released from this privilege until the end. Demir said, “For example, we saw this very clearly in the Pınar Gültekin case. Pınar was a Kurdish woman. As far as we understand, the perpetrator was a Turkish man. He was said to be the son of a wealthy family. Persistent pursuit, harassment, pressure, and control of Pınar ultimately result in taking Pınar out of this life. However, this perpetrator was heard every time, despite constantly changing his statement and slandering Pınar at the court. But when we look at the minutes of Pınar’s family, we see that their feelings, thoughts, demands and thirst for justice are not listened to enough. On the one hand, there is a woman whose existence has been destroyed, and on the other hand, there is a man who is the perpetrator of this crime. Unfortunately, all of this man’s fictions, accusations, accusations, judgments, and defense plots that could attack Pınar’s honor were heard by the court. These statements could be counted as unfair provocation discounts,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL CONTRACTS ARE NOT BASED
Stating that the files they witnessed were not limited to these, and especially in the files where the woman was a victim of violence, they saw that that woman’s life was questioned and tried. Demir shared the following: “Actually, it is a general principle of criminal proceedings that evidence cannot be discussed over the woman and the victim. While these discussions should be made over the perpetrator, the woman’s private life, past, relationships are discussed, her credibility is questioned and her complaint is not taken seriously. Most of the time, emergency measures are not taken on time. Again, perpetrator men are usually tried pending trial. Since the evidence is not collected on time, this creates results in favor of men. The sentences given are either very small, they are closed with impunity, or the sentence is postponed after the announcement of the verdict is postponed. Here, if the person has been imprisoned for less than two years, comes up with a situation that has consequences as if he never received that punishment. Therefore, we see as a whole that the provisions and standards set in the United Nations Convention on Human Rights, which was established with universal human rights values to which Turkey is a party, are not applied or taken as a basis.”
THIRD POLICIES ARE NEEDED AGAINST IMPUNITY
Arguing that the policy of impunity is the last link of the issue of violence against women and that policies to prevent violence should be implemented, Atty. Demir concluded his speech with these words: “There is no such regulation in Turkey. We are talking about a political power that prioritizes the family, is based on the imagination of a conservative society, and is uncomfortable with the equality of men and women, and dreams of creating such an order. The issue of impunity is a very important issue. With this, we lawyers struggle. But before that, we need tertiary policies that ensure the participation of all non-governmental organizations, local administrations, trade unions and political parties. They must be applied unconditionally. While all this is going on, of course, we also need a social peace. Because there is no social peace, There is a dual legal structure in Turkey. In other words, extraordinary law is applied to the opposition. This dual law must be abolished, passed into ordinary law, we must have legal guarantees, and the principle of legal security must come to life as a whole.”
