Segregation nixed as response to violence

Critics saw Governor Hasan Duruer’s remarks as part of ongoing gender problems in Turkey, where the number of women’s foundations is steadily increasing despite a lack of support from the government.

The situation is getting disturbing, said Lisa Amado, a board member of one of the country’s leading women’s foundations, Women for Women's Human Rights. "This is an explanation that would legitimize the already existing discrimination, sexism and patriarchism among the public," she said. "As we talk about sexual equality and human rights on the path to the European Union, this is an absurd suggestion," she said.


According to Amado, Duruer’s proposal sends a message to girls that the public wishes them to receive a separate education. Emphasizing that government action has been poor on the subject of violence against women, Amado said it is sad that a statesman can suggest something this "pitiful" before advising or supporting research and supplying equipment for girls’ education.

Appearing via live video call on journalist Can Dündar’s "Live Newspaper" program on the private channel NTV on Wednesday evening, Duruer said the village guards were not a factor in the massacre, but that jealousy and illiteracy were behind the tragic event. Duruer suggested that separate schools should be created for girls to uphold traditional manners and beliefs, and said his administration is working on such a proposal to make to the government.

Amado said what the Mardin incident needs is a critical evaluation from the government on its political, economic and historical aspects, yet the topic has instead once against "brought forward the issue of women. We need to be talking about the social and political perspective. This suggestion of girls having a separate school to get education is a cover to hide how weak and poor the governance is." Amado added that there are many uncertain connections in the massacre, which needs to be linked with other violent crimes.

"The press wrote that the incident was caused because a village girl was bestowed to another man as a wife," Amado said. "These words are the biggest proof of women not having a voice." Duruer also called on non-governmental organizations and business interests to support the building of schools and other solutions to the education problem, but Amado said NGOs are already working in the field, without any support from the government.

Not a solution

Opening separate schools for girls is not possible, said Aysun Sayın, the general secretary of the Association for the Support and Training of Women Candidates, or Ka-Der. "This would only trigger the perception of honor issues among children," she said. "This is not a solution for girls to get an education." Sayın said she understood the governor’s offer for girls to be sent to schools as well, but that there is one thing everyone forgets: "Primary education in Turkey is compulsory," she said. "It should not be the families’ choice whether to send their kids to school or not."

Doğan Albun, the manager of the Mardin branch of the Education Personnel Union, or Eğitim-Sen, said they are all still in shock and were ashamed at the governor’s speech. "It is impossible for us to support a separate school for girls; we don’t find that right," he said. "Besides, we, as members of Eğitim-Sen, think that the reasons behind the incident have been distorted. It is wrong to portray it as a gender issue where there is a definite issue with the village guards."