Turkey announces new measures to protect women from violence (A video of an abused woman included)
March 5, 2022, 8:58 am

Turkey announces new measures to protect women from violence (A video of an abused woman included)

Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan/Official Facebook page

The Arab News reported, citing the Associated Press, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a set of measures aimed at curbing acts of violence against women on Friday, a year after he withdrew Turkey from a landmark European treaty on protecting women from violence.

Erdogan said the planned judicial reforms would bring increased prison terms when acts of “wilful killing, deliberate injury, torture and ill-treatment” are perpetrated against women and raise the minimum prison term for crimes or threats against former or current spouses.

Erdogan said that under the plans, persistent stalking would be punishable by prison and women victims of violence would be assigned lawyers for free.

Erdogan added that perpetrators would not be able to benefit from penal reductions unless they “show concrete signs of remorse” and not just display good behavior during trials.

Last year, Erdogan withdrew Turkey from the Istanbul Convention, sparking protests and international condemnation. Turkey was the first country to sign the treaty that bears the name of its largest city a decade ago.

Enough is enough! Barbarian beats girlfriend, pulls her hair on street in Turkey
Violence against women is one of the world's biggest problems as humanity wakes up to a new tragedy every day. This time a Turk was captured on Tuesday beating a woman, allegedly his girlfriend. The man grabbed the woman by the hair, threw her to the ground and started assualting her. https://www.yenisafak.com/en/video-gallery/news/enough-is-enough-barbarian-beats-girlfriend-pulls-her-hair-on-street-in-turkey-2204505
Posted by Yeni Şafak on Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Some officials from Erdogan’s Islam-oriented party had advocated a review of the agreement, arguing it is inconsistent with Turkey’s conservative values by encouraging divorce and undermining the traditional family unit.

Critics also claimed the treaty promotes homosexuality.

Erdogan’s government had stated that it remained committed to protecting women, even though it was pulling out of the treaty.

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A total of 72 women have been killed in Turkey since the start of the year, according to the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. At least 416 women were killed in 2021, with dozens of others found dead under suspicious circumstances, according to the group.

The Turkish leader said the reforms would soon be submitted to parliament for approval.

Source: arabnews

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.