Board bans violence fight videos

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTÜK) has banned three short videos and posters created to be used as part of a campaign to combat violence against women, saying they were unsuitable for the theme of gender equality.

“It is hard to understand RTÜK’s reasoning since the videos and posters were produced to underline gender inequality,” Birgül Akay from Turkey’s Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation told Hürriyet Daily News.

Mor Çatı and documentary filmmaker Ethem Özgüven worked together to prepare the videos and posters for the Nov. 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. “I have not used generic images of violence, such as women with bruised eyes,” Özgüven told Hürriyet Daily News. “Instead I show objects related to the victims of violence, or domestic spaces where violence occurs.”

Özgüven said RTÜK’s decision was absurd, but, “By doing this they are raising more awareness about the issue, even though it is ironic.”