Punishment for violence against women to be increased: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 10 said the government will submit the sixth judicial package to the parliament soon and the package will increase penalties for abuse against women.

“We have implemented five judicial packages since May 30, 2019, when we announced our Judicial Reform Strategy Document. Hopefully, we are adding a new link to this reform chain with a new judicial package that we will present to the discretion of our parliament soon,” Erdoğan said in a video message sent to the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) “Dec. 10 World Human Rights Day” program.

“With this package, in which we will increase the mobility of the Human Rights Compensation Commission, the penalties for harassment and stalking against women will be increased,” he added.

Inspired by the “people-oriented state tradition,” Turkey will continue its reform will in the field of democracy and fundamental freedoms in the coming period, he stated.

“Discriminatory regulations that do not give women the right to exist in the public sphere can easily be implemented in Western countries without any reaction. The silence of those who target us through the Istanbul Convention in the face of these persecutions, which also victimize our citizens, is another strange thing,” Erdoğan said.

In such a period when human rights are disregarded, Turkey comes to the fore with its works that put people and human values at the center, the president emphasized.

“We provide services that save human dignity in all crisis regions from Syria to Yemen, from Afghanistan to Myanmar. With the belief that a more just world is possible, we extend our helping hand wherever there is an oppressed or victimized person,” he said.

Turkey is one of the countries that provide the most humanitarian aid in the world according to its national income, Erdoğan said, noting that the country hosts nearly 5 million refugees.

Turkey cannot shoulder more refugees, Erdoğan said, addressing the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (ISIPAB). He pointed out the fact that that the developments in Afghanistan increased the risk of migration.

“Countries like us, which are neighbors to the crisis regions, bear the main burden on the issue of migration and refugees, rather than the Western countries, which are very vocal,” he said.

According to the United Nations’ figures, high-income countries host an average of 2.7 refugees per 1,000 people, while middle- and low-income countries host 5.8 refugees, he said. “The poorest countries host one-third of all refugees in the world,” the president added.

The Syrian crisis is an example in terms of showing the “discriminatory, exclusionary and inhumane attitudes of Western countries towards refugees,” Erdoğan stated.