Stop using women to bring back the inhumane death penalty and Sharia law! Stop issuing new amnesties in every omnibus law, hidden or open!
February08,2024
Discussions on the death penalty and the introduction of Sharia law have become the hottest topics on our agenda. Slogans of Sharia in courthouses and caliphate in rallies are chanted. Immediately after incidents of murder and violence that cause outrage, the death penalty and Sharia law are being praised. Erdogan and Bahceli, the ruling partners, have frequently brought up the death penalty. Most recently, on February 6, Mustafa Destici, chairman of the Grand Unity Party (BBP), said that the death penalty and retribution should be brought back to prevent femicides.
We would like to remind those like Destici who propagate capital punishment and sharia law at every opportunity that we did not become a country where at least 3 femicides are committed every day and incidents such as the murder of a taxi driver in Izmir for no reason at all. This environment of violence caused by uncontrolled individual armament, attacks on gender equality, social and economic collapse, and lawlessness up to the point of a coup against the constitutional system cannot be corrected with outdated punishments such as execution, castration, and retaliation that produce new violence.
Those who want to bring execution by using femicides as an excuse should first look at their veiled amnesties and sexist judicial practices
Destici said in his statement: "The death penalty must be brought back for terror crimes, for murders targeting our women and children, and for brutal murders committed indiscriminately. It must be brought back both for justice to be served and for deterrence, and we are Muslim people; Almighty Allah's ruling on this issue in the Holy Quran is very clear; 'there is life in retaliation'."
Under the name of "execution regulation", murderers of women and child abusers were released in April 2020 and July 2023 with veiled amnesties. Not only these criminals, but with the latest regulation approved by Destici's party in parliament, all kinds of crimes from drug dealing to fraud have been decriminalized, except for thought "criminals". As if that were not enough, there is talk of new amnesties in the 8th judicial package, which is expected to be brought to the agenda of the Parliament by the end of February.
One of the murderers, who was arrested for the murder of his wife and released with the July 2023 amnesty, murdered his second wife together with her mother in Karabük on September 5, 2023. This is just one example that has been reported in the press. The gravity of the situation is hidden from the public as it is normalized not to disclose data or to disclose it in a distorted way. Who gives the assurance that the released murderers and abusers are rehabilitated and that they will not pick up where they left off when they are released? Who protects women and children against these criminals who are sent to homes where they commit violence and sexual harassment and how? Shouldn't Destici, as one of the"Muslim people", ask his alliance partner to answer these questions first?
It would have been expected that he would have asked for an investigation into sexist prosecutions that give a reduced sentence for wearing a tie and how potential perpetrators are emboldened as a result of the Istanbul Convention and 6284 being left on paper; more importantly, how discourses that constantly erode the equality of women and men encourage murderers and sexual abusers of women.
We know very well that the aim of those who want to bring back the death penalty is not to prevent femicides, but to create a climate of fear to prevent all kinds of democratic struggles. We know very well that in a country where even onion producers/sellers are declared terrorists, only the opposition and those excluded by the government will be executed. There are sufficiently severe penalties in the penal code, such as life imprisonment. The question is for whom and how these punishments are applied.
We see that the criminal justice system, which is paralyzed by those who do not recognize crimes against society and women as crimes, by those who protect and protect criminals, by symbolic fines, and by secret or open amnesties, is further deteriorating with each omnibus law. The 8th judicial package also contains unilateral arbitrary regulations of the government, in complete violation of the law-making procedures in democratic states of law. Again there is talk of new amnesty regulations. Those who advocate the death penalty for deterrence should first ensure that the universal criminal law is properly implemented with a fair trial, a deterrent but proportionate punishment, and a stable penal execution regime.
We know that the real goal is to destroy secular law step by step
We would like to remind those who want Sharia law that if capital punishment and retaliation were the correct methods of punishment, there would be no femicide, no sexual crimes, no theft, for example, in countries where capital punishment and Sharia law have been practiced for centuries. In some parts of Pakistan, if a man commits the crime of rape, the men in the victim's family rape the women in the perpetrator's family. Is this the'life in retaliation'that Destici and those who want Sharia law propose to the women of this country?
We remind those who have never wondered why and how Konca Kuriş, Bahriye Ucok and many others were murdered for defending secular law and secular social order, and who have pardoned the perpetrators if they were caught:
Outdated methods of punishment such as execution and castration, which are irreversible and reproduce violence, have no place in humanitarian law.
We never give up on secular law and secular social system.
Stop using women to bring back the inhumane death penalty and Sharia law! Stop issuing new amnesties in every omnibus law, hidden or open!
Discussions on the death penalty and the introduction of Sharia law have become the hottest topics on our agenda. Slogans of Sharia in courthouses and caliphate in rallies are chanted. Immediately after incidents of murder and violence that cause outrage, the death penalty and Sharia law are being praised. Erdogan and Bahceli, the ruling partners, have frequently brought up the death penalty. Most recently, on February 6, Mustafa Destici, chairman of the Grand Unity Party (BBP), said that the death penalty and retribution should be brought back to prevent femicides.
We would like to remind those like Destici who propagate capital punishment and sharia law at every opportunity that we did not become a country where at least 3 femicides are committed every day and incidents such as the murder of a taxi driver in Izmir for no reason at all. This environment of violence caused by uncontrolled individual armament, attacks on gender equality, social and economic collapse, and lawlessness up to the point of a coup against the constitutional system cannot be corrected with outdated punishments such as execution, castration, and retaliation that produce new violence.
Those who want to bring execution by using femicides as an excuse should first look at their veiled amnesties and sexist judicial practices
Destici said in his statement: "The death penalty must be brought back for terror crimes, for murders targeting our women and children, and for brutal murders committed indiscriminately. It must be brought back both for justice to be served and for deterrence, and we are Muslim people; Almighty Allah's ruling on this issue in the Holy Quran is very clear; 'there is life in retaliation'."
Under the name of "execution regulation", murderers of women and child abusers were released in April 2020 and July 2023 with veiled amnesties. Not only these criminals, but with the latest regulation approved by Destici's party in parliament, all kinds of crimes from drug dealing to fraud have been decriminalized, except for thought "criminals". As if that were not enough, there is talk of new amnesties in the 8th judicial package, which is expected to be brought to the agenda of the Parliament by the end of February.
One of the murderers, who was arrested for the murder of his wife and released with the July 2023 amnesty, murdered his second wife together with her mother in Karabük on September 5, 2023. This is just one example that has been reported in the press. The gravity of the situation is hidden from the public as it is normalized not to disclose data or to disclose it in a distorted way. Who gives the assurance that the released murderers and abusers are rehabilitated and that they will not pick up where they left off when they are released? Who protects women and children against these criminals who are sent to homes where they commit violence and sexual harassment and how? Shouldn't Destici, as one of the"Muslim people", ask his alliance partner to answer these questions first?
It would have been expected that he would have asked for an investigation into sexist prosecutions that give a reduced sentence for wearing a tie and how potential perpetrators are emboldened as a result of the Istanbul Convention and 6284 being left on paper; more importantly, how discourses that constantly erode the equality of women and men encourage murderers and sexual abusers of women.
We know very well that the aim of those who want to bring back the death penalty is not to prevent femicides, but to create a climate of fear to prevent all kinds of democratic struggles. We know very well that in a country where even onion producers/sellers are declared terrorists, only the opposition and those excluded by the government will be executed. There are sufficiently severe penalties in the penal code, such as life imprisonment. The question is for whom and how these punishments are applied.
We see that the criminal justice system, which is paralyzed by those who do not recognize crimes against society and women as crimes, by those who protect and protect criminals, by symbolic fines, and by secret or open amnesties, is further deteriorating with each omnibus law. The 8th judicial package also contains unilateral arbitrary regulations of the government, in complete violation of the law-making procedures in democratic states of law. Again there is talk of new amnesty regulations. Those who advocate the death penalty for deterrence should first ensure that the universal criminal law is properly implemented with a fair trial, a deterrent but proportionate punishment, and a stable penal execution regime.
We know that the real goal is to destroy secular law step by step
We would like to remind those who want Sharia law that if capital punishment and retaliation were the correct methods of punishment, there would be no femicide, no sexual crimes, no theft, for example, in countries where capital punishment and Sharia law have been practiced for centuries. In some parts of Pakistan, if a man commits the crime of rape, the men in the victim's family rape the women in the perpetrator's family. Is this the'life in retaliation'that Destici and those who want Sharia law propose to the women of this country?
We remind those who have never wondered why and how Konca Kuriş, Bahriye Ucok and many others were murdered for defending secular law and secular social order, and who have pardoned the perpetrators if they were caught:
Outdated methods of punishment such as execution and castration, which are irreversible and reproduce violence, have no place in humanitarian law.
We never give up on secular law and secular social system.
February 8, 2024
EŞİK - Women's Platform for Equality
www.esik.org.tr,
iletisim@esikplatform.net