https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...de-crisis-examined-harrowing-documentary.html
The harrowing reality of Turkey’s violence against women crisis is exposed in a documentary featuring the heartrending testimony of women who had their children taken from them when they were viciously attacked by their husbands.
British-made documentary Dying To Divorce, released in cinemas last week, shines a light on socially sanctioned femicide in a country where a startling one in three women has been the victim of domestic violence.
The situation has worsened under the autocratic rule of President Erdogan, who champions conservative values and has undermined women’s rights. In 2019, 474 women were killed in Turkey, many by partners and relatives.
This year Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, a legally binding European treaty designed to prevent violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators, sparking nationwide protests.
TV presenter Kübra Eken, who has worked at Bloomberg News in London, was left with limited mobility and speech and permanent brain damage when her husband beat her over the back of the head in a row over their two-day-old daughter.
Another victim, identified only as Arzu, was left without legs or the use of her arms after her husband shot her seven times in close range when she asked him for a divorce.
During the attack, she begged for him to leave her the use of their arms so she could continue to care for her six children.
Both women had their children taken from them in the wake of the attack. Arzu’s were taken into care, while Kübra’s child was placed with her violent husband’s family.
Selected to represent Britain at the Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category, Dying To Divorce centres on Ipek Bozkurt, a lawyer and activist striving to protect women from violence.
‘This country protects murderers who would like to punish their wives, daughters or girlfriends who want to have different things in life than they did before,’ she says.
‘The legal system should give the correct message to the potential murderer that they will spend their entire lives in prison if they kill someone, if they kill a woman. Women homicides are political.’
Kübra, was a 28-years-old television reporter working Bloomberg News in London for when she met her husband Neptun, who was then working as a producer.
The pair returned to Turkey to marry, but two days after the birth of their daughter, Neptun savagely attacked his wife, hitting her in the back of the head four times.
Kübra suffered a serious haemorrhage which initially left her unable to speak or walk and she had to undergo intensive speech therapy in order to testify against her husband in court.
Neptun claimed the damage to his wife’s brain was the result of the Caesarian section operation she had undergone days earlier.
Kübra’s husband withheld access of their daughter as the case was ongoing, with Kübra’s mother’s claiming: ‘The court granted Kübra the right to see her daughter three days a week. But his family have never let her see her.’
After strenuous speech therapy, Kübra was able to testify in court and her ex-husband was charged with assault.
He was sentenced to 15 months in prison but his sentence was reduced for good behaviour, meaning he has not spent a day behind bars….
The harrowing reality of Turkey’s violence against women crisis is exposed in a documentary featuring the heartrending testimony of women who had their children taken from them when they were viciously attacked by their husbands.
British-made documentary Dying To Divorce, released in cinemas last week, shines a light on socially sanctioned femicide in a country where a startling one in three women has been the victim of domestic violence.
The situation has worsened under the autocratic rule of President Erdogan, who champions conservative values and has undermined women’s rights. In 2019, 474 women were killed in Turkey, many by partners and relatives.
This year Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention, a legally binding European treaty designed to prevent violence against women, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators, sparking nationwide protests.
TV presenter Kübra Eken, who has worked at Bloomberg News in London, was left with limited mobility and speech and permanent brain damage when her husband beat her over the back of the head in a row over their two-day-old daughter.
Another victim, identified only as Arzu, was left without legs or the use of her arms after her husband shot her seven times in close range when she asked him for a divorce.
During the attack, she begged for him to leave her the use of their arms so she could continue to care for her six children.
Both women had their children taken from them in the wake of the attack. Arzu’s were taken into care, while Kübra’s child was placed with her violent husband’s family.
Selected to represent Britain at the Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category, Dying To Divorce centres on Ipek Bozkurt, a lawyer and activist striving to protect women from violence.
‘This country protects murderers who would like to punish their wives, daughters or girlfriends who want to have different things in life than they did before,’ she says.
‘The legal system should give the correct message to the potential murderer that they will spend their entire lives in prison if they kill someone, if they kill a woman. Women homicides are political.’
Kübra, was a 28-years-old television reporter working Bloomberg News in London for when she met her husband Neptun, who was then working as a producer.
The pair returned to Turkey to marry, but two days after the birth of their daughter, Neptun savagely attacked his wife, hitting her in the back of the head four times.
Kübra suffered a serious haemorrhage which initially left her unable to speak or walk and she had to undergo intensive speech therapy in order to testify against her husband in court.
Neptun claimed the damage to his wife’s brain was the result of the Caesarian section operation she had undergone days earlier.
Kübra’s husband withheld access of their daughter as the case was ongoing, with Kübra’s mother’s claiming: ‘The court granted Kübra the right to see her daughter three days a week. But his family have never let her see her.’
After strenuous speech therapy, Kübra was able to testify in court and her ex-husband was charged with assault.
He was sentenced to 15 months in prison but his sentence was reduced for good behaviour, meaning he has not spent a day behind bars….
