November 1, 2005

Ask Amnesty: Women's Human Rights Defender Canan Arin

Wherever the fundamental rights of women are violated in the name of tradition, power and honor, defenders of women’s rights have risen to challenge these injustices. Canan Arin, is one such defender.

According to Amnesty International, as many as half of the women in Turkey may be victims of family violence. Millions have been beaten in their homes and many others have been raped, killed and even forced to commit suicide. Arin has been involved in women’s activism in Turkey since 1980, when a coup d’etat opened the door for the women’s movement there. She is perhaps most well know for establishing the first women’s shelter in Turkey, where such facilities are still alarmingly scarce. Out of its population of 70 million, Turkey has only 14 shelters for women at risk.

Please join us from 3:00-4:00 PM Eastern on November 1st to talk with Ms. Arin about her work to stop violence against women in Turkey.

Learn more about violence against women in Turkey. »

Featured Guest: Canan Arin

From our featured guest: "I look forward to answering you questions on November 1st."

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Question Submitted by George:

With such a violent record, how can Turkey even be considered for admission into the European Union? Is the EU doing anything to force Turkey to examine this issue?

Canan Arin answers:

Thank you for the question. Violence against women is neither less nor more in Turkey than EU countries. The difference between them and us is that they have data bases on violence against women in their countries. We do not have -official- databases in our country.

In Austria, women sleep in bathtubs in shelters; in Sweden, the population is 8 million, but they have only 120 women's shelters.

Violence against women is cross border, cross wealth, and cross graduation. In this regard, I do not think that the EU has a better record than us.
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Question Submitted by Theresa Bradley, Psy.D. Clinic:

Have you ever read? "The Neuro-Biology of Aggression - Understanding and Preventing Violence" By Mark Paul Statton. If not, why not.

Canan Arin answers:

No, I have not. Thank you for the information. By the way, have you ever read "History of Wife" by Marylin Yalom. If not, why not?
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Question Submitted by Robin:

Would it shock you to know that here in the US women are arrested out of domestic violence shelters and charged with kidnapping their children whom they were protecting, and that all of these women lose custody of the children they love to the abuser in America's Probate Courts? Did you know that thousands of women are picketing courts and State Houses to change the terrible fathers rights legislation that gives custody to the abuse? Would it shock you to know that no organization has come forward to spotlight these heartbroken noncustodial abused moms?

Canan Arin answers:

No, it would not shock me, but I am very glad that we have not come to that point yet. Usually, custody of children is given to mothers in Turkey.

But I am extremely impressed and sorry for those women whose human rights continue to be violated by these laws.

Per the second part of the question; Yes, I am surprised -- I would expect women's organizations to deal with this abuse of laws.
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Question Submitted by PJ:

How are stats compiled, in Turkey?

Canan Arin answers:

Autonomous women's shelter foundations -- they collect these data.

There are also university researchers. And some private companies' researchers collect data -- we use their figures.

And in Turkey, there is the Institute of State Statistics, which collects data on various subjects. When I said that we don't have official data, I meant this department does collect data on violence against women.
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Question Submitted by Tricia:

I am new to all of this. But the most important questions I have is why hasen't anything been done about all this violence? Why is it not a big issue? Why is this not taken seriously?

Canan Arin answers:

Welcome, as a newcomer. It has been taken very seriously, as one of the lawyers in Turkey, just I myself have spent more than 25 years on the subject.

We have very good legislation on behalf of women; recently one in particular, which was enacted on January 1, 2005, the Penal Code -- all the sections related to sexual violence were prepared by women lawyers from different women's NGOs in Turkey.

But violence against women is a power issue. It is based on the imbalance of power between man and woman. Violence is all means which are used to establish power on a weak party by the powerful. That means that we can have several forms of violence which are economic violence, verbal violence, physical violence, psychological violence, sexual violence -- and these forms of violence can occur either within the family or within the community we are living or within the state we are subject to. Until we establish real gender equality, we cannot end violence against women.

It means that we have a long way to go.
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Question Submitted by Guenly Joseph:

What can i do to help?

Canan Arin answers:

If you are a man, you can establish an association for men to end violence against women. If you are a woman, you can join a women's NGO to combat violence against women.
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Question Submitted by Loretta:

In India, there have been attempts to assist women to start small, home-based businesses with micro-financing. Has this happened in Turkey? Could it be a positive activity or would the abuses become even worse denigrating into slave labor? If this would be positive, what could we do to help?

Canan Arin answers:

Thank you very much for the information. We all know the marvelous work you do in India. And we are aware of your bank for women, which empowers women by providing credit through micro-enterprise initiatives. There are some NGOs in Turkey, which are in contact with NGOs in India.

There is a Turkish cooperative NGO that is trying to create jobs for women. We always follow our Indian sisters' success with great admiration.
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Question Submitted by richard:

what can I and my students do to help?

Canan Arin answers:

Do you mean help Turkey? Or to help to end violence against women in general?

I think the second part is more important. Since Turkey is a part of this world, we have to work to balance the power in between man and woman.
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Question Submitted by duyen:

Hi Ms. Canan Arin, I would like to know how you were able to get approval from government to set-up the shelters? I'm assuming in a country like Turkey it may be hard to do? Also, did you encounter threats/violence to your initiative by those who may have opposed to it? If so, how did you overcome that? And finally, how have the women adapted to their new environments and are they able to go on to lead productive / independent / fulfilled lives? How are the children? Thank you, Duyen

Canan Arin answers:

In terms of the legal aspect, it wasn't hard. The hard part was to find financial resources.

Yes, we did have some threats from violent husbands. But this is life. If you are going to work on something, you need to take risks.

Women do adapt to their new environments as long as they are free from violence. As for the children -- if you mean, how are children affected by the violence, of course they are affected in a negative way, like anyone else.
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Question Submitted by Tracy:

What sort of action, if any, is the government of Turkey taking to decrease the abuse of women? What steps are being done in order to promote awareness to the public as well as governement of Turkey? IS the erason why only 14 shelters for women exist is because there's a lack of funding or is it becasue of the cultural beliefs (ie inferriority of women to men)? I look forward to hearing from you re: the talk on Tuesday Nov. 1st. Thank you. Tracy

Canan Arin answers:

Hi, Tracy. Thank you for the question. We have, I can say, a second wave of the women's movement since 1980.

In 1990, we established the first autonomous women's shelter in Istanbul, and then another in Ankara. Turkey signed CEDAW (Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women) in 1985, and ratified the optional protocol in the year 2000. We have national machinery that deals with the status of women. As one of the results of the women's movement in Turkey, several universities started women's studies programs, and they give degrees on the subject. The number of conscious women journalists has increased.

The shelter run by the Purple Roof Battered Women Foundation (mentioned above), launched in 1990, is the first autonomous foundation and worked as a counseling shelter for five years. Then, in 1995, Purple Roof opened a shelter for 19 women and 20 children, and it worked until 1998, when it closed due to financial difficulties. The foundation continued, however, serving women as a counseling center.

Recently, we re-opened another shelter, but these are not sufficient according to the new municipality law enacted in 2004; for every 50,000 people in Turkey there must be a shelter. Women NGOs in Turkey are forcing both municipalities and governments to fulfill this order in the act. And we demand that the government allocate financial resources for these shelters -- we do not think that it is only the municipalities' responsibilities, but the governments are also responsible.

In regards to the seriousness of the government, I myself do not think that they are serious enough to combat violence against women.

We have so few shelters, partly because of financial resources, and partly the subject is not taken into consideration seriously enough.
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Question Submitted by Amy:

Do you think that the women's movement in Turkey was a relatively influential factor in the recent civil and penal code reforms (as compared with the EU entry process)?

Canan Arin answers:

Yes, it was and continues to be. We are still putting pressure on the government.
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Question Submitted by Robert:

Why is it that Amnesty International has suddenly taken sexism onto its agendas worldwide? Domestic violence in America runs about equal among the two genders. Where the child is concerned women abuse them to the tune of 42% to a man's 18%. So what are you going to do in Turkey when you ignore the domestic violence committed against the men and the boys by the women and the mothers? THis just continues stimulating the disappointment I have felt with AI and dropped my support.

Canan Arin answers:

That's a very good question -- thank you for asking.

I myself am wondering why.

As for the second part, it is so rare that women commit violence against men in Turkey, that there's little point in mentioning it. There is a rule in journalism; if a dog bites a man, this is not news. If a man bites a dog, this is news. Violence against men is so rare that there's no need to mention it. Besides, as a female, it is my duty to serve my own gender first.

For the last part of your question, I am sorry to hear that you've decided that you do not want to support women's rights.
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Question Submitted by Andrea:

Is there a large problem with FGM in Turkey, and if there is, what is being done to prevent FGM?

Canan Arin answers:

Dear Andrea,

We have several forms of violence against women, but we do not have FGM.
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