Filiz Demiral was at home in İstanbul when she got the phone call in August 2020 that would turn her life upside down: Her 20-year-old daughter Ceyda had been found dead, with the police telling her it was suicide.
But Demiral refused to believe it. And as the forensic evidence emerged, it quickly became clear she had been violently attacked by a man she met online about adopting a dog — her death sparking a years-long quest for justice from Turkey’s courts that is far from over.
Four years on, Demiral, now 47, has joined the growing ranks of Turkish families fighting to demand justice for loved ones who died in violent circumstances, their struggle highlighted as demonstrators gathered around the world Monday to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse on Sunday in İstanbul’s Kadıköy neighborhood, where around 250 protesters had gathered holding banners reading “Stop violence against women,” Demiral said the case went to trial with evidence showing the suspect attacked her daughter after she refused to have sex with him, her body covered with deep glass cuts as she fought for her life.
“Her arm was almost completely severed, and there were five deep cuts to her throat and jaw and other parts of her body,” she told AFP, her voice quaking with pain and anger.
After a three-year trial, the court convicted him of murder but said he had acted out of “grief and anger” and halved his 24-year sentence, a move completely denying Ceyda’s family any sense of justice.
“Refusing sexual intercourse was considered a reason for killing: the man committed this act while in pain and anger,” Demiral told AFP, who has appealed to Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals and vowed to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.
“There is no deterrence,” she told AFP, saying court decisions were “not properly implemented,” meaning offenders escaped justice and were free to continue their abuses such as her daughter’s killer, who had a previous criminal record for violence.
“This encourages people, men. They kill at the slightest anger.”
Victim blaming
At Sunday’s demonstration, marked by a strong police presence that blocked the group from staging a march, some held up pictures of their murdered daughters, while others held signs reading: “If I ‘fall from a balcony,’ don’t believe it: I love life” — a nod to the fact that such violent deaths are often classed as accidents or suicide.
Turkey pulled out of the Istanbul Convention, a binding treaty to prevent and combat violence against women, in 2021.
And it does not collate official figures on femicides, leaving the job to women’s organizations that collect data on murders and other suspicious deaths from press reports.
Last month at least 49 women were killed in Turkey, raising to “at least” 327 the number who have died in violent circumstances in the first 10 months of the year, feminist organizations say.
“The government doesn’t publish official femicide figures, but those we collect from the newspapers only concern the obvious killings, not suspicious deaths nor the number of suicides, which remains unknown,” said Leyla Soydinç, who works with the Mor Cati women’s association.
Feminist organizations also collect information on violent attacks and sexual assaults by men, with “at least” 79 victims of violence in October and “at least” 58 victims of rape or other sexual abuse.
Victims’ families say the lack of justice has exacerbated the situation, with abusers confident they can act with impunity.
“If the penalties had been implemented effectively, many women like my daughter would not have been murdered and other mothers would not have suffered like me,” Demiral said, vowing to continue her “struggle for justice.”
“I am fighting for other women. I am absolutely determined to fight until my last breath.”
And such leniency had even encouraged offenders, said 27-year-old Bahar Uluçay, another activist at Sunday’s protest.
“This impunity has legitimized violence against women and caused an increase in femicides. … Since it goes unpunished, everyone can commit violence more easily,” said Uluçay, who has previously been detained for protesting against femicides.
“We will keep on protesting until we can live freely, until the criminals are punished,” she said. “And I believe we’ll win this struggle for rights.”
© Agence France-Presse