Sevda Karaca, a Labour Party (EMEP) MP, demanded justice for women and girls in Kurdish regions subjected to systemic sexual violence by Turkish security personnel, during a press statement in parliament on Tuesday. She stressed the persistence of such crimes across Kurdish provinces, perpetrated by guards, soldiers and police, presenting evidence for “dozens” of unresolved offences.
MP Karaca’s statement comes after a recent incident in Şırnak (Şirnex) where a sergeant was reported to have sexually assaulted young women, causing an uproar among the local Kurdish community. Last week, the Turkish army sergeant, known only as Z.Ç., allegedly followed two young Kurdish women to their apartment building and sexually harassed them at the entrance. As the women called for help, bystanders intervened, and the assailant was injured.
🔴 MP Sevda Karaca (@sevdakaraca) demands that Turkish security personnel be held to account for sexual offences against women in Kurdish regions, condemning the "culture of impunity."#Kurdishregions | #Securitypersonnel | #Sexualabuse
🔗 https://t.co/RuVskJD8O4 pic.twitter.com/drawDL9D8Z
— MedyaNews (@medyanews_) April 18, 2024
During her address, Karaca gave examples of widespread harassment, rape, blackmail and child abuse. “Especially in Kurdistan; these crimes by law enforcement against women and girls have been ongoing for decades,” she stated, citing documented incidents in Kurdish-majority provinces, including Bingöl (Cewlig), Batman, Diyarbakır (Amed) and others.
Karaca posed challenging questions to the Ministries of National Defence and Interior regarding the distribution and frequency of such crimes, the identity of the perpetrators, and the government’s response. She inquired about the percentage of crimes occurring in Kurdish areas since 2010, the extent of security forces’ involvement, and the outcomes of legal proceedings initiated against the perpetrators.
Karaca criticised the judiciary’s lax approach and the minimal penalties imposed. She highlighted that this leniency emboldened individuals like Musa Orhan, a sergeant sentenced for rape but not ordered by the court to serve the ruled prison term. The victim, 18-year-old İpek Er committed suicide following the assault. “This biased judicial practice, rather than deterring, gives perpetrators like Musa Orhan the audacity to believe that ‘nothing will happen to me’,” she noted.