Lawsuit filed against leading feminist organization, seeking its closure

Duvar English

A lawsuit has been filed to shut down Turkey’s prominent “We Will Stop Femicide Platform” (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu).

The platform, which campaigns for ending femicide in Turkey and frequently criticizes the Turkish government for inadequate laws to combat violence against women, said the lawsuit was filed by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The prosecutor’s office is accusing the platform of “acting against the law and morality.”

The group keeps a record of all reported murders of women at the hands of violent men. Its latest data showed at least 24 femicide in Turkey last month.

“We do not see this lawsuit filed against our We Will Stop Femicide Platform an attack only against our struggle. We know this attack is one against the entire democratic public opinion,” the group said in a statement.

“The efforts by the government, which has withdrawn its signature from the Istanbul Convention at the cost of leaving women and LGBTIQ+ individuals alone against violence, to intimidate those fighting are not independent from the many injustices in the country,” it added.

The platform frequently calls on the Turkish government to reinstate the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty obligating signatories to stop violence against women. 

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