The courage to be the voice of the voiceless

A woman's body was found in the Sakarya River today. A few days ago, she had called the 112 Emergency Call Center to report that she was being beaten by her husband. After that distress call, no further word was heard from her. Following search efforts in the area, her lifeless body was found in the Sakarya River. We are withholding her name. But it is our duty to expose the name of her husband. SİRACETTİN D. killed his wife after an argument and threw her into the river.

In the last 24 hours, 9 women were murdered by men!

If we had 9 martyrs, this news would be at the top of the agenda.

Unfortunately, the "murder of women" has become so normalized that it doesn't even make the main news headlines...

Yes. In the last 24 hours, men murdered 9 women! In Pendik, Istanbul, Ümit Karlı stabbed his ex-wife, whom he had divorced 5 months ago, to death.

In Sakarya, Ali Rıza Aslan shot and killed his wife, who was in the process of divorcing him.

In Bursa, Murat Demir shot and killed Tuba Ateşçi, the mother of his two children whom he had divorced last year.

In Denizli, Afghan-origin Nasım Gol stabbed his wife to death.

In Erzurum, Şafak Saydam, who had escaped from prison, shot his wife in the head because she wanted to divorce him.

In the Samsat district of Adıyaman, Kasım A. killed his wife, his brother-in-law, and his brother-in-law's son after an argument.

In Aliağa, İzmir, Ahmet Çankaya stabbed his estranged wife to death as she was leaving work.

We have become a country where women have their lives ended by their husbands for not answering the phone.

From the far west to the far east of Turkey, 9 women lost their lives on the same day due to preventable murders.

From the far west to the far east of Turkey, in the last 10 years, men have murdered 3 thousand 850 women! Every day, new ones are added to these murders in pairs.

We have become a country where women have their lives ended by their husbands for not answering the phone. Unfortunately, we have normalized and trivialized these murders. Yet, most were preventable deaths. For most of us, it is no different from any other news story. Behind every murder lie lives triggered by trauma and great tragedies.

What good does it do if I write the names of the 9 women whose lives were taken within 24 hours? They will be murdered tomorrow, and the days after that, too. New ones will be added to the new murders. They won't even be considered worth grieving over...

Today, at the same time a woman's lifeless body was found in the Sakarya River, a piece of news became a trending topic on social media.

A restraining order for famous actor Fırat Tanış! Pianist İklim Tamkan has obtained a restraining order against her ex-partner Fırat Tanış, alleging that he subjected her to violence. In a press statement she shared, İklim Tamkan said, "I felt compelled to share the information that this person is a perpetrator of violence with my fellow women and the public. I see breaking this chain of violence as a responsibility, and I refuse to be a silent link in this chain."

İklim Tamkan, herself a successful artist, waited 6 months since the date she alleges she was subjected to violence. I wonder about that final breaking point that brought out her courage. What is the fear that causes even an educated woman who can stand on her own two feet to delay such a decision?

Is it the fear that society will find a reason to blame the woman by saying, "there must be another reason behind it"?

If Tamkan's allegations are true, because she courageously revealed what happened to her, she is the voice of the voiceless from today on. Being human requires standing against violence.

Violence against women is a social disease. We can only overcome this disease by being each other's voice and by standing in solidarity.

If 9 women fell victim to what we call preventable murders in this country in a single day, it is time for us all to show the courage to be the voice of the voiceless together.

From the far east of Turkey to the far west...

Women, men, side by side...