Initiative against sexual harassments and rapes in détention

In spite of numerous cases of sexual harassment and rapes by police in detention, most of victims kept silent about that. For that reason, womens’ movements decided to react. With a campaign in Turkey and many European countries, the Initiative against Sexual Abusess and Rapes calls the victims to break the silence and to denounce their rapists in the aim to prevent new abuses.

The Initiative, that started from Istanbul with 20 women, includes intellectuals, writers, poets, artists and lawyers. It spred quickly to 20 else provinces, in which are Bursa, Antep, Mersin and Malatya. The Initiative leads its actions with the support of the Legal Aid Project Against Sexual Abuse and Rape in Custody, the Human’s Rights Association (IHD), the Turkish Human’s Rights Foundation (TIHV), and other women’s movements. It aims to organize an opposition against sexual violences sexuelles in Turkey. In its last campaign, the Initiative calles the women who have been victims to sexual violences to denounce these facts to make react the public opinion. The campaign leading in many Kurdish regions in Turkey is too active in many European countries, in which are Germany, France, Ostrich, Sweden, Swiss, Denmark, Nederlands and Greece. The Initiative tries to contact victims of abuses in publishing a bulletin.

Charges against police

Hulya Imak, a representative of the Initiative notices that women who are victims of sexual abuses in custody can not publically reveal it, because of the Turkish social structures. He states that less than 10% of abuses committed in custody are established. He insists on the fact that victims’ silence conforts rapists and provokes their increasing. Imak calls the victims of sexual abuses with the slogan "Talk about rapes and denounce rapists !". According to Imak, during the last years , much people became aware of that problem and many recent claims shows that increased awareness. Explainig that the Initiative wants to support the victims, Imak said that the Initiative could bring the police of the Direction of Political Section in Istanbul before the court for the Asiye Guzel Zeybek’s case, who has been raped by the police of this section, before to be arrested and imprisonned.

Source : Kurdish Observer 29/02/2000

Summary