Women And The Turkish Penal Code

BY DERYA SAZAK

MILLIYET- Columnist Derya Sazak writes on a bill to eliminate clauses in the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which discriminate against women. A summary of his column is as follows:

The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have agreed to a new bill to strike certain clauses in the TCK which discriminate against women. A ‘woman’s point of view’ was jointly put together by female members of both Parliament and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The bill is to be discussed today at an Istanbul panel entitled ‘Women’s Human Rights in the Turkish Penal Code.’

The TCK Woman’s Working Group drew up comprehensive proposals to be presented to the Parliament. Moreover, a number of NGOs launched a quite effective campaign to promote the new bill. For example, the New Solutions Foundation believes that the TCK in its current form fails to properly deal with the issue of discrimination between the sexes. According to these groups, the TCK legitimizes so-called ‘honor killings,’ kidnapping and other kinds of discrimination against women in both the public and private spheres. It also sees the bodies of women as the property of men, family and society. These NGOs believe that unless necessary changes are made, discriminatory customs and traditions will continue to be seen as superior to the states’ judicial regulations, which also violates the Constitution’s principle of equality.

Luckily, female members of both the CHP and AKP are very keen to address this issue, and the two parties aren’t at odds over this. They seem to support the ‘woman’s point of view’ and want it to be accepted by Parliament.