Hello, sisters! Before we start this exciting and hopeful journey inspired by women’s righteous anger and struggle for equality and freedom, I would like to share how the Purple Line (Mor Çizgi) has emerged, its purpose and what awaits you in this project. 

The Purple Line is funded by Countering Backlash Program (hosted by IDS) and SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency). It investigates top-down and bottom-up backlash against gender equality and women’s rights and the strategies developed by women’s rights groups and human rights activists to respond to this backlash in Turkey. 

On March 20, 2021, the Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette at midnight announced Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention was terminated overnight. Did it really happen overnight?

After 2015 and under the conditions of the State of Emergency, the new regime in Turkey, which has become more and more entrenched, manifests itself as a performance and body show of masculinity that is strengthened in every field and kneaded with violence. One of the most important components of this body show is the interventions in the field of gender and sexuality. The foundations of this regime, which infiltrates every detail of our lives today, go back much further.

In 2010, Erdoğan, then prime minister, said, “I do not believe in equality between men and women” during a meeting with women’s groups. A few years later, he said, “Equality between men and women is against nature. “What women need is not being equal but being equivalent.” Later, he often shared his ideas on this subject. He even said that a woman who is not a mother and does not take care of her home is half a woman. He condemned feminist women at every opportunity. Was he the only one? No. The deputy prime minister of the time said that women should not laugh in public. To put it in a nutshell, most men, political figures, who had a mind of their own, felt it their right to express their opinions about the place of women, the duty of women, the body of women, what women wear, and where women are allowed to go. This is all we have heard for many years now.

But this sexism and anti-equality did not remain just in words. In 2011, the State Ministry in charge of Women and Family was replaced by the Ministry of Family and Social Services. In 2012, the discourse that abortion is murder was followed by a new draft law on abortion. With the strong reaction of the women’s movement, the law was not passed, but today abortion, which is a legal right, is de facto banned in state hospitals. Abortion is de facto banned, and the number of children to be born is also dictated. Now, who will take care of these children? The phrase “Sow the kindergarten and reap the retirement house” has become a government policy, and public nurseries have been closed down one by one on the pretext of being harmful to the general budget. The Diyanet, on the other hand, opened kindergartens for children between the ages of 4 and 6 all over the country. It didn’t stop with kindergartens, care centers for the elderly were also closed.

These were the ones coming from the ruling side, from the top. Especially since 2014, the groups predominantly consisting of men calling themselves by various names such as “victims of 6284”, “victim fathers”, “victims of alimony”, and “victims of the Istanbul Convention” have started to mobilize on social media. In media outlets known for being close to the government and even playing a role in the government’s decisions, we see and read nothing but doubtful “victimization” stories of these men.

Again in 2014, a parliamentary research commission was established, which women’s groups called the “Marital Breakdown Commission”, but how it was conducted was problematic. While members of the group who talked about “male victimisation” were listened to attentively, the problems experienced by women within marriage, during and after divorce were treated as secondary issues. The participation of representatives from women’s groups was almost non-existent.

The report published by this commission in 2016 revealed the AKP government’s actual program in its policies on women and the family. Let’s take a look at some of the recommendations in the report. The report recommended that child abusers be granted probation if they maintain a “problem-free” and “successful” marriage with the child they assaulted for 5 years. The report recommended the use of reconciliation and mediation in divorce cases and in cases of violence, even though it is strictly prohibited by law. The report recommended that the doors of police stations should be closed to women subjected to violence during working hours. The report recommended limiting women’s right to alimony to the duration of the marriage. The report recommended the appointment of theologians as family counsellors.

As you can see, the research commission set up by the AKP government seemed to see the solution to protecting and strengthening the family in eliminating the rights and freedoms of women and children, especially girls. While the 4+4+4 education system paved the way for children to be forced into early marriages and labour, such proposals prepared the way for early marriages and divorces, making it harder to get out of those marriages.

This 2016 report was both a scandal and a turning point. Indeed, the attacks on women’s rights from the grassroots and the top have intensified since then. The introduction of a time limit on alimony and demands for further changes in the Civil Code to the detriment of women; the abolition of Law No. 6284 on the Protection of the Family and the Prevention of Violence against Women; amnesty for child sexual abusers under Article 103 of the Turkish Penal Code, which regulates the crime of sexual abuse against children; the abrogation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse, in short, the Lanzarotte Convention; the right to abortion; the nature of women and men became frequent topics of discussion. This is how the road to the abrogation of the Istanbul Convention at midnight in March 2021 was paved. And the road does not end here.

Today, all the rights of women, children and LGBTI+ people are targeted one by one. There is no official and scientific data behind the justifications put forward for any amendment or dissolution. In fact, in many cases, the available data contradicts the claims of the government and the opponents of equality. While murderers of women are thanking the higher authorities for the abrogation of the Convention, violence against women and femicide cases are on the rise. While all these attempts to completely eliminate the mechanisms and sanctions that would stop the perpetrators and prevent violence and murders are gaining momentum day by day, women and women’s organizations that follow the cases of femicides, fight against violence, take to the streets and protest against the murderers face detentions, fines and even threats of closure. In a country where pride parades have been banned for years under various pretexts, family marches are organized against the so-called LGBTI imposition. On television, hajjis and hodjas proclaim that “man is superior to woman”. March 8 and November 25 night marches do not pass without police intervention, they are slandered with preposterous and baseless allegations such as whistling the call to prayer. Women who do not unconditionally submit to male domination, especially divorced women or women who want to divorce, are demonized in the media. Let us recall that in the vast majority of femicides committed despite restraining and protection orders, the perpetrators cite the women’s decision to get divorced as a justification. All individuals and institutions defending women’s rights and anyone who does not submit to the way of life drawn by this mentality are turned into criminals and targeted. The information pollution and polarization created by politicians and partisan media make any dialogue and compromise impossible, deepening inequality and violence.

And is all this happening only in Turkey? Believe me, no. There is a global mobilization against gender equality all over the world, rallied under the rule of far-right, populist and authoritarian governments. In Poland, women are fighting the controversial abortion law and the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention. In Hungary, the Orban government is closing gender studies departments and openly declaring war on equality. Although the religions and cultures of all these countries are different, they pursue similar goals with similar discourses. The concept of gender, which we know is at the root of violence, relations of domination and inequality, has become a symbol for all kinds of behaviours and identities that do not conform to these relations of domination and roles; for these groups, gender equality is a threat to the family and the future of civilization. The sacred family must be protected because a strong family means a strong state. All legal rights and practices, which in their essence aim to combat gender inequality, child sexual abuse and domestic violence, are, according to the opponents of equality, dynamite at the heart of the family. This so-called “attempt to save the family” is united in its opposition to gender equality, women’s and LGBTI rights, generating discourses, making institutional changes, implementing de facto practices contrary to legal regulations, and openly fighting the rights won through the efforts of women’s and LGBTI struggles all over the world. Just recently, President Erdoğan announced that the family will be defined in the constitution, so that “we will put a barrier in front of threats to our family institution and human nature”. In this “sacred, strong, large” family idea, women, whose primary raison d’être is to be a wife, mother and caregiver, have no place in the public sphere, in business life, and in some cases even at school. The man is portrayed as the head of the family, the cornerstone of male privilege. But the reality is different. Family is one thing, absolute male domination and the continuity of patriarchal power is another. For governments, this family model, which exploits women’s labor to the last drop, is a useful tool to maintain their patriarchal power, so they are working hard for the domination of men over women.

We can call this local and global movement the masculine restoration; we can call it the patriarchal reaction against the gains achieved as a result of long years of struggle for an equal, free and nonviolent life; we can call it the anti-gender movement. Whatever we call it, our lives, our rights, our struggle to live nonviolently, freely and humanely are under attack by governments and groups that want to establish absolute male domination.

But the recent history of Turkey and the world, especially the women’s and LGBTI movements, shows us one thing: Where there is oppression, there is resistance. All the while, from Argentina to Iran, from Poland to Turkey, all over the world, uprisings and struggles do not cease for a moment. Women and LGBTI rights defenders are resisting tirelessly, often at the cost of their lives, finding and supporting each other on social media and in real life. So if this anti-feminist, anti-gender equality, pro-natalist and pro-family movement has a global dimension, there is also a strong global resistance against it.

Purple Line was inspired by this spirit of resistance. Because our lives, our freedom, a nonviolent and equal life is our purple line! With this purple line we underline all our just demands and struggles. With this purple line we cross out all kinds of attacks and oppression against our rights, bodies, way of life, and existence. At times, this purple line turns into a line of conversation; we dialogue, listen to each other, learn from each other, and grow from our common experiences.

The Purple Line is an outcome of our righteous anger, of our endless mourning for those we have lost, of our struggle full of hope, courage, mourning, music and dance, where we can lean on the one next to us when we are tired, where one of us leaves off and the other takes over. After all, we do not intend to give up our rights, lives, and equality.

The main aim of the project is to research and share with you the patriarchal backlash against gender equality that we have witnessed and fought against in Turkey, both from the top and the bottom, especially since 2016, as well as the resistance strategies developed by women’s rights organizations and human rights activists against this backlash. You will be able to access this research and its results in the blog posts on the website and podcast episodes.

Each episode of Purple Line will host distinguished guests who have contributed to women’s struggle for equality, rights and freedom in Turkey, and we will talk about the components of this global anti-gender equality and women’s rights movement, its reflections in our lives, and strategies and ways to expand our struggle. We will examine the similarities and differences between the backlash in Turkey and its worldwide counterparts. We will look at scenes from “new” Turkey, where this masculine show of violence is constantly staged; where poverty and corruption are rampant; where we are afraid of the past, the present and the future; where we are so scared to walk down the street alone. We will discuss women’s struggle, strategies, possibilities and impossibilities against male supremacist groups who talk about male victimisation due to women’s “excessive rights”, the sacred family, and the place and role of women and men. Whether individually or collectively, we will ask what we can do, how we can enlarge the struggle, and how we can contribute, and we will look for answers.