The 1st Antalya Women’s Summit, which was staged within the scope of the 48th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, and co-ordinated by the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality Media and Public Relations Consultant Akgün Keskin Sakarya, was held at the Dedeman Hotel. The summit was attended by a large number of people, including the Mayor of the Metropolitan Municipalty of Antalya, and Chairman of the board of directors of AKSAV, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Akaydın, the Minister for the Family and Social Policies, Fatma Şahin, the Governor of Antalya, Dr. Ahmet Altıparmak, AKP Women’s Branch president, Güldal Akşit, CHP Member of Parliament for Istanbul, Şafak Pavey, CHP Member of Parliament for Ankara, Gülsün Bilgehan Toker, The President of the Association for the Support of Modern Life (ÇYDD), Aysel Çelikel, sumerologist, Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, academics and artists. During the summit, which continued throughout the day, the answers to the questions, “Why is violence towards women on the increasing? What do we need to do” were sought. A resulting declaration was announced to the public, following the summit. The complete text of the declaration is as follows:

Violence towards women is THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE BREACH OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND DISCRIMINATION. IT IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

Despite universal modern criteria such as the Copenhagen Criteria and the United Nations Convention on the Prevention of All Types of Discrimination against Women, which Turkey is a party to, the state has not, and is not carrying out its obligations on this matter.

1 of every 3 women is being subjected to violence in Turkey. The percentage of women who have encountered physical violence is 34%. According to the data of the World Economic Forum on gender equality, Turkey is in 126th place out of 134 countries on the matter of ensuring equality.

In the last years murders of women have increased by 1400 per cent, 26.000 incidences of violence have been encountered in the family home within the last 6 months, and the number of women who have been murdered in the last 180 days has reached 130. Almost 4.000 women have been sacrificed to violence since 2005.

Such a widespread and fast increase in violence towards women cannot be explained away with just economic, social and cultural reasons, or by “mentality”, “traditions”, “customs”, “and a lack of education” or “religious reasons”.

All have an effect, but the fundamental reason is that the government has, in its poltical, economic and social relationships, internalised the discrimination against women, and the exploitation of women.

It is that the woman’s view point is not included in the decision making mechanisms. It is that there has been an inability to develop a policy to eradicate violence, and to establish mechanisms which would implement that.
 
It is that, despite the fact that gender equality is stated within the constitution, beliefs, declarations and behaviour which is opposed to gender equality is dominant within the government’s policies.

Now is not the time to regress on the gains which have been made by the Republic, it is the time to move further forward.

The 1st Antalya Women’s Summit evaluates “Violence towards women as a concern which is above party politics”.

OUR DEMANDS:

The state must embrace the solution to this problem as a policy of the state, and must implement it.

Coordination must be undertaken with scientific and research organisations, non-governmental organisations which work in the area of women, and the media, in order to establish an institutionalised POLICY OF THE STATE to prevent discrimination against women and to empower women.

The major axis of this policy must be human rights and freedoms within Turkey, equalty between men and women, the eradication of all types of discrimination, and the route of wisdom and knowledge.

With this policy, violence towards women should not just be looked at with respect to its legal dimensions, but also with respect to its political, economic, socio-psychological and cultural dimensions, in an integrated approach, and strategies and vehicles designed to ensure the eradication of gender based inequalities within the community, preventing discriminating applications, the increase in the value given to women, the empowerment of women, increase in the levels of education of women, and women’s participation more widely and more actively in politics, the economy and social life.

Parliament must urgently, and unconditionally ratify the European Union Convention on “The Prevention of and Fight against Violence towards Women and Violence in the Home”, which was signed in Istanbul.

The Draft Bill on “The Protection of Women and Members of the Family from Violence” must be passed by parliament as soon as possible.”

Turkey must carry out the obligations foreseen by the international agreements to which it is a party.

Everywhere that can be reached by choice must have a 50 per cent “Women’s Area”.

All authorities must possess an expert who has the woman’s point of view. Personnel must be trained in this field.

A cultural transformation designed to change the way women are seen by society, and the male dominant approach which commoditises women must be ensured. With this objective, public awareness of gender equality must be increased, adjustments must be made to change the prejudices concerning the roles of the sexes, and the consciousness and sensitivity of society must be developed together with training and communication activities.

POSSESSION OF WEAPONS BY INDIVIDUALS MUST BE STOPPED.

Secure refuges must be established, as foreseen by the Municipalities’ Legislation, and if not, then penal sanctions must be implemented.

An important amount of mıoney must be set aside from the budget for all of these matters.

Our expectations from the political parties are that they defend equality between men and women, and lead the way to this being adopted by society.

We expect the 1st ANTALYA WOMEN’S SUMMIT not to remain as just a platform tos hare information and produce ideas, but to carry out the duty of tracking and OBSERVING the the conclusions of the Summit, within a framework of cooperation with the NGOs and university environments.

We ask ALL OF THE MEDIA ORGANS AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES, ESPECIALLY TELEVISION CHANNELS AND THE NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES to not reproduce and not normalise violence when broadcasting incidences of violence, and we hope that they will continuously mirror this declaration to the public and contribute to it being internalised by society.

We thank the ANTALYA METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY for organising this summit, and hope that the Antalya Women’s Summit will become a permanent occurrence.