Istanbul, Turkey – The story of the efforts of activists to end violence against women in Turkey has been selected as the United Kingdom to participate in the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Award.
Dying to Divorce, produced by Turkish and British filmmakers and took five years to hit, was released in UK movies last week.
This follows the work of lawyer Ipek Bozkurt and activist Aysen Ece Kavas who meet with survivors of gender-based violence to help them and their families seek justice through the Turkish labyrinthian atrocities.
Bozkurt and Kavas are part of the We Will Stop Femicides Platform, which oversees violence against women in Turkey. The commission also helps to strengthen the activists involved and pressures people to appear at trial and to organize roundtable hearings.
So far in 2021, Turkish men have killed 285 women, according to the platform – on the way to more than 300 killed last year.
Violence against women has often made headlines in Turkey, but women’s rights activists say the country’s laws have failed to comply with prosecution and punishment. Failure, they say, is the result of a high-profile case that criticizes women who choose independent living.
‘Honestly’
Along with the quest to show the connection between politics and violence against women, the 81-minute film provides an overview of the statistics – in particular, on the physical and emotional trauma of two women.
One is Kübra Eken, a television presenter who suffered from cerebral palsy after her husband brutally beat her two days after giving birth to their first child. It took years of receiving treatment and help for Eken to regain his mobility and speech.
Another is Arzu Boztas, a mother of six, who decided to divorce her husband after learning that she had raped her best friend and then wanted to marry him as a second wife. One day, the man told Boztas to send the children, and then he appeared to have a gun, was lying on the floor and was shot in the arm and leg.
Turkish civil society organizations, not just women’s rights groups, have been disbanded in the last five years [Screengrab from film ‘Dying to Divorce’]British President Chloe Fairweather said she decided to dive into Diving to Divorce after seeing a meeting between Boztas and Kavas, the protester. “I was not prepared for the severity of the violence, but I was very impressed with Arzu,” Fairweather said.
“He was strong in the way and was committed to reorganizing his life … I was encouraged to tell his story there.”
The film follows Boztas and his family, including his father who regrets marrying her at the age of 14, as he seeks to ensure her ex-husband is prosecuted.
Later in a lengthy press release, the ex-husband explains from prison that he did not regret shooting the Boztas, saying he was not a good mother to their children. “We need to kiss the feet of such women, and that is what our president is saying,” he said, referring to a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2014 about the women and women featured at the beginning of Dying to Divorce. “I could not have gone farther, but he despised my pride and self-respect,” the old man adds.
But as this film shows, most of the victims in Turkey are actually women. Boztas is looking forward to seeing his six young children until they regain their independence. Doctors may be able to help her regain some of her strength, but gunshot wounds to the legs are very common, and her legs are amputated. In one photo, after years of recovery, she had her armpit legs show to her children.
“When I look in the mirror now, I see my old personality,” says Boztas. “Strong, well-maintained, attractive, strong women.” Her children are all around her. She no longer has feet to kiss, but she hugs her artificial legs.
“During the shooting, we got to know each other, getting to know each other,” producer Seda Gokce told Al Jazeera. “You can recognize them, the writing is more and more honest and sincere.”
The video seeks to highlight the relationship between Turkish politics and violence against women [Screengrab from film Dying to Divorce]Hundreds of crimes are being committed in this country every year, both religious and non-religious, rich and poor.
“The killing was not directed at one segment of the population,” said Bozkurt, a lawyer, in the film on his way to meet another client. “Violence is when a woman wants to live a modern life, whereas a woman wants to make her own choice, so violence does not mean a decline in education and economic hardship or anything else, but it really takes the idea of women and men to try to suppress and prevent this. making statements. “
A look at the literature that causes violence against women, Fairweather said, is what observers outside of Turkey should also be aware of. He says: “When I was making a movie, I didn’t think it was too difficult or too complicated. “It’s very difficult when you look at Arzu’s experience, but the way women are unprotected, incomprehensible, I think this is what you see in many countries.”
The idea of not being ashamed of the politics of feminism and coercion in Turkey, led to the film not being shown this year at the Istanbul Film Festival, the country’s most popular film festival, Gokce said. Although the festival organizers took the time to call and say they were impressed with the film, Gokce said he refused to show it, saying, “because of Turkish politics it was not wise to show the film.
Al Jazeera contacted the Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation, which is organizing the festival, but did not receive a response by press time.
While filmmakers are waiting for word on whether they will be nominated for an Oscar – a verdict is expected later this month – Gokce said he was looking forward to seeing more women in the country and abroad watch.
“The most important thing is to reach out to Turkish women and the rest of the world because the issues we are discussing in the literature are not just about Turkey.”
