Meet Cilem Doğan - who has no regrets about killing her abusive husband

Guys meet my new hero Cilem Dogan.

This young woman lives in Turkey with her daughter. This week she sparked a huge interest around the world when she shot her abusive husband who tried to force her into prostitution. According to Dogan, Hasan Karabulut had abused her throughout their marriage and had told her one morning to pack her bags as he was taking her to the city of Antalya and pimping her out as a prostitute. "When I opposed, he beat me. He pushed me on the bed and the pistol under the pillow came into my mind. I grabbed it and shot him repeatedly. Then I took my daughter and left the home," Dogan told police, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.

Dogan said that one time he brought her into a forest, beat her and told her to become a prostitute. Another time he held her prisoner until her mother discovered what was happening and threatened to call the authorities. When she was released, she planned to leave him but then discovered she was pregnant and decided to stay. However the pregnancy didn't stop the beatings, nope, she claims he even beat her while she was giving birth to their daughter in the hospital. Later Dogan tried to leave again and filed for a divorce, but changed her mind when he allegedly threatened to hurt her family.

After her arrest on July 9, Dogan told investigators she felt she did what she had to do and that the incident marked the end of a long pattern of abuse, "Will women always die? Let some men die too. I killed him for my honor."  

Cases like this is not unheard of in Turkey. Approximately 40% of women in Turkey have been abused and in 2013, authorities estimated 28,000 women were abused in the country and more than 200 were killed. In 2015 alone, more than 100 women have been killed by men and shockingly enough most of them died at the hand of a relative. In other words, Turkey right now is one of the world's worst countries to be a woman.

As she was led into jail, Dogan flashed thumbs-up to the cameras and wore a shirt that read: "Dear past, thanks for all the lessons. Dear Future, I am ready." Feminists took to social media in support of Dogan, hailing her as the pride of Turkey and a hero in the fight against domestic violence.

 Even though my heart breaks for her and her little girl, I am happy for Dogan and I really hope that all this media attention will help to lessen her sentence. Though I highly doubt it as the country is ran by the biggest sexist asshole.

 I just hope that someday Cilem Dogan and every women like her will be freed, protected and helped to rebuild their life in a dignified and autonomous way.

Özgecan Aslan (22 October 1995 – 11 February 2015)

On Wednesday, February the 11^th twenty year old Ozgecan Aslan was burnt and beaten to death with an iron bar after an attempted rape in Turkey. It has been reported that minibus driver Suphi Altindoken had killed and mutilated her body after she pepper-sprayed him. He has been arrested alongside his father and a friend.

Gone, a young girl with a bright future.

Case like this is very common in Turkey. The number of sexual harassment and violence in the country is shocking. In 2014, 56% of the 281 women murdered in the country were killed by a husband or partner. The number of deaths has seen an increase in the previous year by 31%.

 The case has sparked many street protests in Ankara, Istanbul and Mersin. A week ago, about 15,000 protestors took to the streets to march near Cag University, where she was a psychology student. It also caused an uproar on social media, women took to twitter to share their own stories of sexual harassment and violence. Not only that, the hashtags #Ozgecanicinsiyahgiy (Wear black for Ozgecan) and #Ozgecanicinminietekgiy (wear a miniskirt for Ozgecan) began to trend as a form of protest. Women posted selfies while wearing black clothes, while men in Turkey and Azerbaijan tweeted images of themselves wearing a skirt as a symbol of solidarity.

 “If a miniskirt is responsible for everything, if wearing a miniskirt means immorality and unchastity, if a woman who wears a miniskirt is sending an invitation about what will happen to her, then we are also sending an invitation!”, wrote one protestor on Facebook  in regards to the campaign. http://www.buzzfeed.com/rossalynwarren/rest-in-peace-ozgecan-aslan#.wfQ0lKZqa2

For those who are thinking - what good does protesting do to help - it helps, alot. To live in a country where human rights and freedom of speech is limited, it helps to rise your voice to be heard, even if its through protesting. 

This case is a political issue that represents the fear women live with in Turkey. The constant fear that has been put in place by the Turkish president Erdogan who believes that men & women are not equal so therefore shouldn’t be treated equally. “What women need is to be able to be equivalent, rather than equal” he said last November, while addressing the Women & Justice Summit in Istanbul, an international conference hosted by the Women & Democracy Association, a Turkish NGO.

Everybody that knows me or reads my blog knows my problem against Erdogan, for those that don’t, well I hate the man. I hate his political views on gender equality and the fact that he has done no good for women’s rights.  Many times he has stated that he sees women no more than “mothers”, he refuses to accept that men and women might be different biologically but nevertheless women deserve equal rights & opportunities. For me it is obvious to see that Erdogan’s attitude and disregard of gender equality plays a huge part in the increase of sex crimes and violence against women in Turkey over the recent years.

Even though Erdogan’s hate crime against women is clear, it is time for him to take domestic violence and sex crimes seriously. It is time for him to do more than tweet the words “the responsible ones deserve the heaviest punishment”. It is time for him to put his foot down and protect all women. It is time for him to honour Aslan and bring a different outcome to the same sad story.

I just hope in the memory of Aslan the case be a turning point for all women in Turkey.

Image credits - http://image.cdn.haber7.com//haber/haber7/photos/ozgecan_aslan_nasil_ve_neden_olduruldu_1423917510_5239.jpg

-http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article10047082.ece/alternates/w460/AN63004367epaselect%20epa0461.jpg

https://twitter.com/Guy_Moussi/status/567337134605205505/photo/1http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.2247790.1424742604!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/image.jpg

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/24/turkeys-president-recep-tayyip-erdogan-women-not-equal-men

Turkish Politics

At 23 years of age, I’ve heard many many stupid things in my life, yet NOTHING tops the stuff I hear from Erdogan’s mouth! Turkish politics make me so angry. And I very rarely, like ever, get angry. Traffic, rude customers, being put on hold on the phone whilst they play really really annoying music, rainy London weather, or even the never-ending line at the post office. None of these things make me as angry as Turkish politics. 

 I have many issues with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Long story short – I don’t like him. Why you ask? 

Fair enough the man might have done some good for Turkey economically since becoming Prime Minister, however fast forward eleven years and the only good thing the man has done for Turkey is to accomplish economic growth. Some may even argue that he has been known for nothing besides being a dictator. In the recent years, Erdogan has pushed his conservative Islamic policies forward, trying to take over Ataturk’s modern Turkey. Turkey has come a long way thanks to Ataturk, he helped transform Turkey in so many great ways. Ataturk accomplished many things for women. He respected women, unlike Erdogan. Erdogan has always let his thoughts on women and women rights be well known, always declaring that women and men are not equal. No argument that he is a deeply conservative man who has traditional views on women and believes in patriarchal system. 

However Erdogan’s dictation has gotten worse over the years, from trying to ban alcohol, to taking away people’s rights, to discriminating against women. Sure thing, the man has a vision and drive, and he knows what to say to win people over. Especially the people in the Eastern Turkey, the ones who are not well educated or as modern as Western Turks, the Eastern Turks  who don’t dare question his motives but trust him nonetheless. Turkey is a modern country thanks to Ataturk, yet Erdogan has declared many times that he wants to raise a religious generation. In other words – 

“There is now one mosque for every 350 people in Turkey -- and one hospital for every 60,000”.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/turkish-prime-minister-erdogan-targets-women-s-rights-a-839568.html

One of the many things I hate about Erdogan is that he is trying to take away people's freedom of speech. The press freedom in Turkey is in chaos, many journalists are in prison for expressing their views, Reporters Without Borders say that Turkey “is currently the world’s biggest prison for journalists, especially those who express views critical of the authorities on the Kurdish Issue”. He even tried to ban social networking sites such as Twitter and Youtube several times over the years. Someone needs to tell the man you can take away people's power but you can't take away their voice!! 

This week once again both Erdogan and his deputy Bulent Arinc got themselves in trouble with women. On July 28^th Turkey’s deputy Bulen Arinc gave a morality speech where he singled out women for laughing out loud in public. In his speech he stated that:

“[The man] will not be a womaniser. He will be bound to his wife. He will love his children. [The woman] will know what is haram and not haram. She will not laugh in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness,”

Turning a political speech into a sexist matter. Of course the speech caused uproar with women, women all over the world (me included!) posted photos of themselves laughing, refusing to acknowledge his backwards comments.  One of the many awesome women who used social media to shame Bulent Arinc was actress Emma Watson. She posted a photo of herself laughing hysterically whilst shaming Arinc for his sexist comments.

And this week Erdogan called a female journalist who expressed her views through a newspaper, a "shameless militant woman", who should "know her place". 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/know-your-place-you-shameless-militant-turkish-prime-minister-tells-female-journalist-9656896.html

As a woman, a Turkish woman, it is very sad to see men like Erdogan and Arinc taking over Turkey with their sexist and backward thinking ways. Makes me angry that he has the right to blame women for causing a moral corruption, and furthermore criticises women for expressing happiness in public. Shame on you Erdogan! Shame on you Arinc!

And let me tell you - If the founder of the Turkish state Ataturk were alive, I ensure you he would've been protesting with the people on Taksim Square in Istanbul last year. 

PS. Going to be VERY interesting to see the elections tomorrow. Though we all know, we all know...