Turkish army to join war on domestic violence

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin. AA photo

Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin has said that support from the military and the Religious Affairs Directorate could be instrumental in raising awareness among men to combat mounting violence against women.

The army, a principal venue to reach out to adult men, has carried out projects in the past to educate soldiers on birth control and healthy reproduction, Şahin said yesterday, after a meeting with female lawmakers from opposition parties.

In remarks to the daily Hürriyet, the minister said she had requested a meeting with Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel to discuss how the military could contribute to efforts to stop the rising trend of women falling victim to murder and domestic abuse at the hands of men.

“I will ask the chief of General Staff that his privates and non-commissioned officers undergo a broader education,” she said, adding that she would demand particularly an end to the use of language degrading to women, namely some military cadence calls.

Şahin said her ministry was also working on a project with the Religious Affairs Directorate to raise awareness among men through sermons on gender equality and self-control.

The projects are an effort to “reach out to grown men through all methods possible. It is a general gender education project for society,” she said.

In a related development, deputies Oya Eronat and Ülker Güzel from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) applied to Parliament’s Human Rights Commission asking for the formation of a sub-commission that would be in charge of monitoring the implementation of laws aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence, the conduct of the security forces in such cases and the functioning of women’s shelters.