First ladies of pop unite to support survivors of abuse
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Kristen Stevens
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 28, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - For the first time in Turkish history top female vocalists assemble to perform on the same stage, some together, some in Kurdish Ğ all singing each other’s songs. Their cause is united behind a campaign against domestic violence in Turkey and a hotline that has had close to 12,000 callers in a year and a half, 2,500 of whom required emergency services.
A sold-out concert earned 100,000 TL for a domestic violence hotline by featuring eight of Turkey’s most successful female singers earlier this month, filling Istanbul’s Maslak TİM arena with duets and singers performing each others’ songs Ğ including Turkish lyrics sung in Kurdish for the first time. The live show will air on Star TV in the coming weeks.
The concert organizers, the Corporate Communications Department of Hürriyet, which owns the Daily News, built on the success of a compilation album they put together in November 2007 to benefit the "No to domestic violence" hotline and campaign. The department’s director Timuçin Tüzecan, the man behind the ideas for the album and the concert, took the name for the project, Güldunya, from a song written by young Turkish rock singer Aylin Aslım in 2005.
Aslım’s song, banned by the popular state radio and television channels under the TRT umbrella for unspecified reasons, focuses on the killing of a new mother at the hands of her own family. Two months after giving birth to a son in 2004, Güldunya Toren, unmarried and 24, was recovering in a hospital after being shot and left for dead, when a man claiming to be a relative told staff he wanted to visit her. Then he shot her dead.
She had asked for police protection in the hospital shortly after the first attempt. "I know they won't want me to live. I'm scared," she told reporters. Her tragic end was consistent with the phenomenon of honor killings that occur when a family kills a female member they believe has damaged the family honor in some way. Honor killings, while not rare, are the extreme face of a near-epidemic sized domestic violence problem in Turkey.
After performing in the "Güldunya" concert on March 9, Aslım told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review Tuesday that when three of her friends had gone to the police after experiencing abuse first or second hand, "the police acted as though the complaints were keeping them from more important work," she said. Covered in scratches and bruises after barely escaping a rape by a stranger next to Istanbul’s bustling Taksim Square, her friend was told by police that she should expect to be attacked if she dresses up and goes out late. "And yet, you see so often women getting killed who have reached out for help," Aslım said.
The enormity of the domestic abuse problem is not limited to Turkey. Amnesty International found that 75 percent of women who are murdered in the world are killed by husbands or partners. And most had asked for protection.
However, a recent report found that 90 percent of women abused in Turkey do not report the abuse to authorities. "That’s why we went on so many media shows." Even if women don’t read they can use the number they see on TV, she added.
Redemption song
Aslım said she was grateful that, after her song "Güldunya" had touched a censorship nerve for exposing the depths of violence, a large media organization has helped it represent a cause she cares deeply about. As for singing "Güldunya" onstage with Turkey’s all-time queen of pop, Sezen Aksu, in the concert, she said it was "like a dream come true."
Considering what had happened with the song, Aslım, who also sang her own interpretation of Nilufer’s "Karar Verdim" in the show, said the project, concert and duet with Aksu couldn’t have been a better redemption. "It’s the kind of thing that makes you believe there might be divine justice in the world."
Another star performer in the project, Aynur Doğan, who is Kurdish, had an entire album that was also banned from TRT. One of her songs from that album was sung in the concert by pop diva, Ajda Pekin, who said she had never used the Kurdish language before in her life. Despite the previous bans on both Aynur Doğan and Aslım, TRT gave positive and substantial attention to the concert on their news and culture programs. Aynur Doğan sang Şebnem Ferah’s Turkish song "Sil Baştan" in Kurdish. Organizers heard that the Kurdish community had celebrated the singing of Kurdish at the concert and people from the Kurdish community had passed along their appreciation for the effort to reach the millions of Kurds living in every part of Turkey.
"For us it was very important because with those performances [in Kurdish] we think we were able to reach more women in Turkey," said Evrim Sumer, corporate communications manager at Hürriyet. She added that the media, from left to right, had been supportive of the project. "We will continue trying to reach Kurdish women."
Sumer said with so many powerful women, no one had been capricious in rehearsals or the show. "They knew what the project was about," she added.
The songs were chosen by Naim Dilmener, a well-known music critic, who looked for songs infused with messages about women’s power and liberation. Sticking to the project’s message, "we refused some of the popular sexy love songs," Sumer said.
Rescuing victims
Since the hotline opened in October 2007, Sumer said they have received nearly 12,000 callers, 2,500 of whom required emergency services while around 150 were victims rescued from life and death situations. She said the 100,000 TL raised by the concert to support the hotline was impressive but that it wouldn’t even cover five months of expenses. From each album sold, 3.5 TL goes to fund the hotline, which employs a total of 18 psychologists, six or seven of whom are on call to answer phones at any given time. The hotline has provided psychological support to Turkish-speaking callers from Australia and the U.S. to Austria, France and Holland.
In Turkey the hotline’s psychologists are also equipped to contact the police or emergency services in the caller’s area if they determine it is necessary to send them. The corporate communications office is planning to make the number a Turkey-wide toll-free call. "The hotline has been most effective in Istanbul where police received training to react to calls from hotline personnel," Sumer said. She added that her team will be working closely with governor's offices across Turkey to also train the police in their jurisdictions.
Rights activists say it is essential to let men know that putting an end to abuse of women is up to them. Another compilation album to raise awareness and support the "No to Domestic Violence" hotline is in the works, Sumer said, adding that her team will soon be calling on male singing stars of Turkey.
"Güldunya" is on sale in record stores and bookshops across Turkey. To learn more about donating or promoting the campaign, contact Corporate Communications at (0212) 656 9696. The hotline is (0212) 656 9696. or from a cell phone (0549) 656 9696.
The concert organizers, the Corporate Communications Department of Hürriyet, which owns the Daily News, built on the success of a compilation album they put together in November 2007 to benefit the "No to domestic violence" hotline and campaign. The department’s director Timuçin Tüzecan, the man behind the ideas for the album and the concert, took the name for the project, Güldunya, from a song written by young Turkish rock singer Aylin Aslım in 2005.
Aslım’s song, banned by the popular state radio and television channels under the TRT umbrella for unspecified reasons, focuses on the killing of a new mother at the hands of her own family. Two months after giving birth to a son in 2004, Güldunya Toren, unmarried and 24, was recovering in a hospital after being shot and left for dead, when a man claiming to be a relative told staff he wanted to visit her. Then he shot her dead.
She had asked for police protection in the hospital shortly after the first attempt. "I know they won't want me to live. I'm scared," she told reporters. Her tragic end was consistent with the phenomenon of honor killings that occur when a family kills a female member they believe has damaged the family honor in some way. Honor killings, while not rare, are the extreme face of a near-epidemic sized domestic violence problem in Turkey.
After performing in the "Güldunya" concert on March 9, Aslım told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review Tuesday that when three of her friends had gone to the police after experiencing abuse first or second hand, "the police acted as though the complaints were keeping them from more important work," she said. Covered in scratches and bruises after barely escaping a rape by a stranger next to Istanbul’s bustling Taksim Square, her friend was told by police that she should expect to be attacked if she dresses up and goes out late. "And yet, you see so often women getting killed who have reached out for help," Aslım said.
The enormity of the domestic abuse problem is not limited to Turkey. Amnesty International found that 75 percent of women who are murdered in the world are killed by husbands or partners. And most had asked for protection.
However, a recent report found that 90 percent of women abused in Turkey do not report the abuse to authorities. "That’s why we went on so many media shows." Even if women don’t read they can use the number they see on TV, she added.
Redemption song
Aslım said she was grateful that, after her song "Güldunya" had touched a censorship nerve for exposing the depths of violence, a large media organization has helped it represent a cause she cares deeply about. As for singing "Güldunya" onstage with Turkey’s all-time queen of pop, Sezen Aksu, in the concert, she said it was "like a dream come true."
Considering what had happened with the song, Aslım, who also sang her own interpretation of Nilufer’s "Karar Verdim" in the show, said the project, concert and duet with Aksu couldn’t have been a better redemption. "It’s the kind of thing that makes you believe there might be divine justice in the world."
Another star performer in the project, Aynur Doğan, who is Kurdish, had an entire album that was also banned from TRT. One of her songs from that album was sung in the concert by pop diva, Ajda Pekin, who said she had never used the Kurdish language before in her life. Despite the previous bans on both Aynur Doğan and Aslım, TRT gave positive and substantial attention to the concert on their news and culture programs. Aynur Doğan sang Şebnem Ferah’s Turkish song "Sil Baştan" in Kurdish. Organizers heard that the Kurdish community had celebrated the singing of Kurdish at the concert and people from the Kurdish community had passed along their appreciation for the effort to reach the millions of Kurds living in every part of Turkey.
"For us it was very important because with those performances [in Kurdish] we think we were able to reach more women in Turkey," said Evrim Sumer, corporate communications manager at Hürriyet. She added that the media, from left to right, had been supportive of the project. "We will continue trying to reach Kurdish women."
Sumer said with so many powerful women, no one had been capricious in rehearsals or the show. "They knew what the project was about," she added.
The songs were chosen by Naim Dilmener, a well-known music critic, who looked for songs infused with messages about women’s power and liberation. Sticking to the project’s message, "we refused some of the popular sexy love songs," Sumer said.
Rescuing victims
Since the hotline opened in October 2007, Sumer said they have received nearly 12,000 callers, 2,500 of whom required emergency services while around 150 were victims rescued from life and death situations. She said the 100,000 TL raised by the concert to support the hotline was impressive but that it wouldn’t even cover five months of expenses. From each album sold, 3.5 TL goes to fund the hotline, which employs a total of 18 psychologists, six or seven of whom are on call to answer phones at any given time. The hotline has provided psychological support to Turkish-speaking callers from Australia and the U.S. to Austria, France and Holland.
In Turkey the hotline’s psychologists are also equipped to contact the police or emergency services in the caller’s area if they determine it is necessary to send them. The corporate communications office is planning to make the number a Turkey-wide toll-free call. "The hotline has been most effective in Istanbul where police received training to react to calls from hotline personnel," Sumer said. She added that her team will be working closely with governor's offices across Turkey to also train the police in their jurisdictions.
Rights activists say it is essential to let men know that putting an end to abuse of women is up to them. Another compilation album to raise awareness and support the "No to Domestic Violence" hotline is in the works, Sumer said, adding that her team will soon be calling on male singing stars of Turkey.
"Güldunya" is on sale in record stores and bookshops across Turkey. To learn more about donating or promoting the campaign, contact Corporate Communications at (0212) 656 9696. The hotline is (0212) 656 9696. or from a cell phone (0549) 656 9696.