I have hesitated for a long time before posting this plea to you. My sense of judgment, outrage at violence, especially, when unprovoked, love for humanity brought me to my senses along with my conviction that we all may one day end up in a similar state of being, when information becomes a must toward helping others who are being subjected to government-ordered brutality and absolute censorship. Hence, my post.
The situation in Turkey is getting worse, in that that the government ups its forces and violence and is not keeping it a secret. Tomorrow has already dawned in Turkey, very soon the UNARMED protesters will be facing the violent (not to stop the people but to hurt in any which way they can), brutal (if chemically mixed pressured water won’t hurt as much as they like, one on one hits with whatever they have on them, which is always the most compared to the protesters who have nothing), merciless (no age group is immune as the reports keep coming in). Some call this “civil war”, including Turkey’s current prime minister who caused all this division to the nation but bear in mind: It can’t be civil war, for only one side is armed. His. It has been already quite a suffering to which he objected his own population thus far already but June 16, 2013 – tomorrow/today in Turkey may and most likely will get worse. It is father’s day. From the outset of his political journey, aiming to erase not only the name but all history of and about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, called affectionately THE FATHER OF THE TURKS since 1923, the said prime minister is claimed to have planned to do everything in his power to cast for that role once and for all. Please be aware with regard to the most time-tested English-speaking international news coverage (Christiane Amanpour is a best point to start) to the best that you can and spread the word. There is no Turkey-based English news coverage to which I can refer you at the moment (and most likely for a long time to come), as the reliable ones are either shut or going through governmental investigation. I refuse to play into your emotional side and am therefore not posting anything visual or audio-captured, whether overly disturbing or not. Nor will I ever do here. My heartfelt thanks for listening to me.
Two days ago, some countries acknowledged, some others rejected once more the United Nations International Women’s Day (IWD). Cultural entities around the world coincided their fertile grounds for violence against women with the supposed celebrationof their female populations. South Africa and India became two of the most adored objects of the media, Celebrating International Women’s Day due to “recent cases of violence against women” on their soil.
In the honor of IWD, seven injustices women around the world meet became newsworthy yet once again. Among them, China, India and Afghanistan attained considerable attention. Sex-selective abortion and infanticide brought China and India to the news, while Afghanistan, this time, competed in the list due to its lack of education rights for its females. Lesser crimes against women in relatively wide-spread coverage included no rights to drive in Saudi Arabia, far fewer rights in divorce in Egypt, restricted land ownership in Lesotho, media coverage discrepancies in Latin America and gender pay gap in the United States.
With a substantial leap from concerns over equal pay for both sexes, selected world media leaders took us to a brief tour in one of the exclusive districts of Istanbul, in quest of a public gallery constructed in commemoration of IWD following the increase in “honor killings” of women in Turkey. The displays consist of newspaper clips of stories of women murdered by the men of their families, i.e. husbands, divorced husbands, fathers, father-in-laws, brothers, brother-in-laws, uncles, etc. A large banner reading “There is no excuse for violence against a woman” functions as the onset of the news program, Beyoğlu’nda ‘Kadına şiddetin bahanesi yoktur’ sergisi.
At the risk of being ridiculed – in view of the above-mentioned violence’s scope, I claim that even one hand constitutes a brutal act when used to slap someone regardless of that strike’s force. So is using pepper spray on unarmed, non-violent, nonthreatening, defenseless people, as the following video, Kadınlar gününde kadına biber gazı documents. The clip makes history on Turkish lands since the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – on International Women’s Day, nonetheless. For, the Islamist Erdoğan administration uses police to stop women in Hatay, Turkey with pepper spray from voicing their demands for anti-violence against women in a peaceful walk.
An image from a critically-claimed cinematic production, “Osama” enters the memory:
Wasn’t it mere water, after all, that the Talibani had used on women to dissolve their quest for work to survive in their man-less households? Before ordering their murders without trial on the slightest suspense of their “misbehavior”? On behalf of Islam?
Let us have a quick fact-check against the backlash of at least a few of the relevant teachings of the Kur’an regarding some of the hereby summarized crimes against women: Driving? There is – as to be expected – no mention of it. It, thus, has no connection to Islam when Saudi Arabia or elsewhere is concerned. Rights in divorce? Equal for both genders, with a clause to more heavily support the woman; especially, if she is expecting or already a parent. Right for education? Equal for both genders.
Celebrating women? What an impossible feat as long as distortions, misinterpretations, misconstructions, de-constructions, or reconstructions of religious texts reign over humanity when at least the three “main” world faiths are concerned!
Kazım Koyuncu (1971-2005), "Hayde"
A folk-rock singer and song writer with work in a number of languages spoken along the northeastern Black Sea coast of Turkey, as well as the language of Laz.
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