‘Neighborhood's honor’ protects women: AKP MP

Umut Erdem - ANKARA

İsmet Uçma (R2), one of the founders of Turkey's ruling AKP, mingles with voters.

A ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy has suggested that “the honor of the neighborhood” should be responsible for protecting women from violence, prompting an angry reaction from the opposition ranks. 

Speaking on the much reported failure of the “panic button” project – in which women carry a device that they could push to call the police when they are in danger of violence - AKP deputy İsmet Uçma, a member of the parliamentary commission to investigate violence against women, said the “the honor of the neighborhood” concept could replace panic buttons.

“We could replace buttons by making exemplary families. We could foster the concept of the honor of the neighborhood. Everyone in the neighborhood should protect women who are in danger and target those who harm them,” said Uçma. 

However, his proposal received a fierce reaction from opposition deputies of the commission.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Candan Yüceer said violence against women could not be prevented if the concept of “honor” was defined over women’s bodies. “Preventing violence against women is not a neighborhood’s duty, it is the state’s duty,” Yüceer said.

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Nursel Aydoğan, meanwhile, said many women had been killed in the name of “the honor of the neighborhood,” also adding that male deputies, including Uçma, should not even be members of the commission.