Enemy of women: AKP policies push Turkish women into prostitution (Part 3)

Mahmoud Batakoushi

The previous two parts of this series “Enemy of Women” dealt with the despicability of the Turkish regime, its hostility toward women and its continuous attempts to oppress them, imprison them, and deal with them through violence that often amounts to rape. The Turkish regime approves laws that degrade and restrict the freedoms and rights of Turkish women. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) uses its parliamentary majority to impose laws that violate the rights of women, who have been experiencing a miserable reality after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his comrades came to power in 2002.

The AKP continues its hostility against women and directs its strikes against them in every field. Pro-AKP media have launched smear campaigns against the Women’s Council and the Free Women’s Movement (TJA), as the party believes that women are merely subordinate to men. Pamphlets have even been distributed to married couples asking women to blindly obey their husbands no matter what. Erdogan has also attempted to domesticate women by urging them to have three or more children, and he described working women as half humans because of “their abandonment of caring for the home.”

Erdogan’s party also tried to pass a controversial law forcing victims to marry their rapists, in a blatant assault of national and international child protection laws. This also represents a violation of the Turkish constitution and undermines the laws recognized by Ankara, which is the second time that the Erdogan regime has tried to pass this dubious law. In 2016, the AKP tried to pass it under the pretext of eliminating the phenomenon of underage marriage, as a government report confirmed that about half a million underage girls were married during the past decade. But opposition parties stood against it, because the passage of such legislation would legitimize child marriage and cases of rape, help those abusing children, and facilitate sexual exploitation.

Gamze Pamuk Ateşli, a member of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said, “The ruling party is pushing us to question the concept of equality between men and women in the Turkish constitution. Its leaders speak about their view of women and do not provide any opportunity to publicly affirm that they do not believe in gender equality, especially when they indicate the number of children that women should have.”

She emphasized that Erdogan’s party strongly opposes taking any reasonable steps regarding equality between men and women and has thus not devised any strategy that allows women to effectively participate in politics. On the contrary, the AKP reduces women’s role and attempts to eliminate them through a system of patriarchy.

The Turkish policies of continuous restrictions on women and the poor work environment have pushed women to engage in prostitution. The month of July 2020 witnessed 113 women being exposed to the profession of prostitution. Last year, hundreds of women entered this field due to the pressures imposed by the Turkish regime, to the point that the Turkish Criminal Court in Manisa issued an order banning news that desperate women who came to the provincial authority with the aim of finding a job were being dragged into prostitution.

“They deceive desperate women and girls who are looking for work and enter into illegal relationships with them, and women who do not accept this are threatened,” said Turkish MP Tawfiq Dekar.

The economic crisis that has struck Turkey due to Erdogan’s reckless policies in the region has led to increased unemployment, low wages, and difficult living conditions. This in turn contributed to a large number of textile workers, university students and housewives to work in prostitution in order to provide for themselves or to take care of their children.

It is worth noting that the Turkish economy depends largely on prostitution, as it generates about $4 billion annually. Official reports have confirmed the existence of 65 licensed brothels in several Turkish cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya and elsewhere. About 3,000 prostitutes work in these brothels under the cover and protection of Erdogan following a criminal law prepared by the AKP government and ratified by the parliament on September 26, 2004, which entered into force on June 1, 2005.

The law stipulates a prison sentence of two to four years for anyone who encourages or facilitates acts of immorality, while those who practice it willingly are not punished. The number of female prostitutes has doubled at a rate of 220% under the AKP’s rule.