Turkish men who kill their wives googling how to reduce sentences

ISTANBUL

Turkish men who kill their wives are searching on Google for ways to reduce their sentences, according to a lawyer. 

“If a woman is murdered for saying something that would make her husband angry, a sentence reduction should not be made possible. The lifting of the sentence reduction in these cases would be a deterrent in femicides even if it requires societal transformation. For instance, we saw a man who murdered his wife looking up on Google about how to get a sentence reduction in his case,” Lawyer Feyza Altun said at an event at Istanbul Kemerburgaz University. 

“Sentence reductions are being perceived by men who murder their wives, girlfriends, fiancées and women who reject them as a case of impunity,” she added.

With Turkish laws being prepared by men, the whole system is very masculine, Altun said.

“In this situation, the laws prepared are protecting men and they are being made with the male point of view,” she said. 

During her speech, Altun said the struggle must continue and that reacting against injustices in cases of femicide were significant.

“We need to keep on struggling. Reacting to decisions are very significant and they reach their target,” she said, adding that the discourse that politicians deploy was also very significant. 

“The discourse used by politicians is very important because there are politicians that the people love and take as an example,” she noted. 

Another figure that gave a speech at the event was a professor from the university’s sociology department, Banu Kavaklı Birdal, who stressed the role of the media in cases of femicide.

“We need to struggle against violence against women in a societal way. Violence against women is a wound that never heals and gets worse over time,” she said, adding that there were serious problems with the language used in the media regarding the issue.