İYİ Party leader vows policies ‘to keep women alive’

ANKARA

İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener on Nov. 17 pledged to make necessary legislation in the fight against femicide and violence against women if her party comes to power.

Speaking at her party’s parliamentary group meeting, Akşener recalled a recent femicide in which yet another woman was brutally murdered by a man while walking on a street in Istanbul.

Başak Cengiz, a 28-year-old woman, was attacked by Can Göktuğ Boz out of nowhere with a samurai sword while she was walking on the street of the place where she was staying in Istanbul’s Ataşehir district late on Nov. 9.

“This villain targeted [her] because she was ‘vulnerable.’ This understanding did not come out of spontaneously. This understanding followed the footsteps of a mentality that left women vulnerable to all kinds of attacks,” Akşener stated.

“This understanding is encouraged by those who tore up the Istanbul Convention overnight,” she added.
At least 203 women were killed since March 21, when Turkey withdrew from Istanbul Convention, Akşener said.
“Under the İYİ Party government, we will turn women’s struggles, which have been going on for years, into a state policy. We will make the necessary amendments in the Constitution to ensure gender equality,” she said.

They would not only sign the Istanbul Convention quickly but also put it into practice and follow up whether it is being implemented or not, Akşener said and added, “We will keep women alive under the rule of the İYİ Party.”