Harassers and gropers wander around free in Turkey

I don’t know where to start, because wherever I look, there is a scandal. Isn’t there some kind of respect for a pregnant woman in this country? 

I know that women are not shown any respect; but I thought pregnant women had some. Where are those who rocked the boat saying, “Give birth to children, give birth to more children,” and those who argue, “A woman has to have at least three children.” 

Yes, you got it; I am talking about the guy who kicked a pregnant woman in the Aegean province of Manisa while she was exercising in a park. 

Can you believe it? This case was heard last week and it was postponed again. It is being dragged on again. The jerk who committed this act is again set free. 

What are they investigating in this incident, for heaven’s sake? He battered this woman in the park and the police caught him. The crime is obvious. 

He has been violent to a pregnant woman; he has committed a hate crime. He is obviously against women. He is against women wandering on the streets. He is against pregnant women. He beat her up saying, “Don’t walk around here.” 

You may have forgotten this incident because so many of them happen nowadays. When a certain time passes over it, the incident is forgotten.  

The perpetrators should be punished. 

The pregnant woman is going to be asked whether she was in a self-defense position or not; this is the topic of the next hearing. 

What should I say? I mean, a little bit of comprehension, please. There is a battered woman; what difference does it make if she was beaten while defending herself or not? 

This is a very grave incident, because any case that is not punished becomes an encouragement to another attacker, to another jerk. 

They find the courage then; and they pour their hate against women at every opportunity they have.   
As the women of this country, we are against a diluted judicial system. We will be against it all the way. 

Kicker in Istanbul also free  

Yet there is another scandal. The man who kicked a girl in a public bus in Istanbul because she was wearing shorts is walking around free among us. 

Why is that so? Is it a very good deed that he has done? Letting this man go free, let alone a punishment, isn’t it a reward for him? 

Not arresting this man is actually a challenge to all short-wearing women, isn’t it? Isn’t this what is written in the subtext?  Isn’t it saying, “Well, you better not wear shorts?”  

We will wear them, we will wear them and we will wear them. 

Summer is coming; we will wear more of them. 

It has been almost a year. The incident happened in September 2016. The case without arrest has been postponed to September 2017.  

Why is that so? What do you want from us? What do you want from our shorts? 

We will resist till the end and we will not forget the kicker on the bus and the victim Ayşegül Terzi. We will not let it be forgotten. 

Campaign against gropers on buses

Here is another terrific campaign launched by daily Hürriyet’s Sunday edition: “No harassment in mass transportation.” Daily Hürriyet had also launched a campaign in the past concerning domestic violence. 

I am so proud of working in this paper. 

In the file drafted by Banu Tuna and Aslı Barış, the figures are grave. For instance, in Istanbul, 10.5 million people use mass transportation every day; according to surveys, 75 percent of women boarding the vehicles do not feel safe. Also, 74 percent of them have been subject to or witnessed acts of sexual harassment.

Buses are 58.8 percent of the transportation vehicles where women are sexually harassed the most. 

We are in the year of 2017 and such a catastrophic situation is experienced in our country. This is scandalous. 

Let us support this campaign all the way. Let us not be silent. Let us not sweep it under the carpet.