http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KG03Ak03.html
Jul 3, 2009 KEBABBLE Turkey's women take back the night By Fazile Zahir FETHIYE, Turkey - A brutal murder has spread shockwaves throughout Turkish society, raising important questions about class divisions and attitudes to modern womanhood and raising doubts over Istanbul's former chief of police that may have contributed to his downfall. The case has provoked a conservative backlash against freedoms enjoyed by modern young women. It has also led to the emergence of a nascent feminist movement similar to the United States-based Take Back The Night group, which rallies against rape and violence against women. The killing has also spawned the largest-ever campaign and counter-campaign ever seen on the Turkish section of the social networking website Facebook. The victim was an attractive 17-year-old Istanbulite called Munevver Karabulut. On March 3, only four days before her birthday, her torso was found, stuffed in a suitcase, with multiple stab wounds. It had been thrown into a dumpster outside a bar she frequented. Her head was found in a different dumpster, inside a guitar case. It didn't take long before suspicion fell on her 17-year-old boyfriend Cem Garipoglu, who was nowhere to be found. An investigation of his wealthy parents' gated villa soon produced evidence of blood matching Munevver's in the house and also on Cem's parents' clothes, as well as a bloodstained saw. A taxi driver came forward and said that Cem had phoned him that night, asking him for help in lifting a heavy bag first into the car and then into a bin. After the bag was dumped, Cem asked the driver to drop him off at a bar in town, he said. Cem's parents told police that Cem had told them that during an argument with Munevver he had pushed her, with her head hitting the corner of a table. He said he had patched her up and sent her home in a taxi, getting covered in blood while cleaning up the mess. But security camera footage suggests Munevver's body was dumped by Cem and an accomplice using one of the Garipoglu family's cars. His father was arrested at the end of May for involvement in the crime. Conservative Turks have blamed Munevver's own family for her death, arguing that if she not been allowed out alone in the evening she would not been put in such a vulnerable position. For them, the case has underlined the need for women to be protected and restrained from late-night socializing. Celalettin Cerrah, Istanbul's former chief of police, was in agreement. In an interview with Hurriyet newspaper a month after the corpse was found, he said, "Her parents should have kept a better eye on her. If it was your daughter what time would you have wanted her to come home? Would you have let her stay at her boyfriend's house until late in the evening?" Feminists were quick to decry his comments, with female rights lawyer Hulya Gulbahar saying they encouraged violence. "It is not acceptable for a man who is supposed to protect women wherever they are and at whatever time to say this, especially as he has not even been able to perform his other duty of catching the criminal. He is encouraging the restriction of women's freedoms, family and society pressure and giving an excuse to those who commit violence against women," she said. Another feminist lawyer, Canan Arin, demanded an apology from Cerrah. "He is holding all women responsible for the crime and saying they deserve to be murdered. He should apologize to [Munevver's] family and all the other people that live in Istanbul." The Socialist Feminist Collective demanded Cerrah's resignation, and on May 9 held a sit-down protest at the mouth of the Taksim underground railway. Their placards read "Cerrah should keep a better eye on his tongue" and had pictures of his mouth taped over. In a press statement they made it clear that they felt Cerrah was blaming not just the Karabulut family for the crime, but women in general. "To get murdered all you need to do is be a woman, men murder and the state protects them with these types of sexist statements that encourage the sovereignty of men over women." Their words were full of dynamic resistance to the police chief. "It's enough ... that he discriminates based on language, religion, ethnicity and gender, he's never heard of positive discrimination, he protects murderers and not their victims." In a final statement, reminiscent of feminist Andrea Dworkin who helped organize the first "Reclaim the Night" march in the US in 1978, they said: "We are not giving up the night, the streets or the outside world." It was not the first time that Cerrah had faced controversy. He had been criticized over the violence at May 1 rallies in Istanbul in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and for claims of ignoring tip-offs concerning the murder of journalist Hrant Dink in 2007. The pressure seems to have paid off. On June 11, he was appointed as the new governor of the southern province of Osmaniye, with many viewing this as a demotion, Hurriet reported on June 12. He will be replaced by Huseyin Capkin, the former police chief of Izmir on the Aegean coast. Beyond criticism of Cerrah, there is also a divisive class element to the ongoing Munevver saga. On Internet groups people have said the wealth of Cem's family, who are former bankers and still large stakeholders in the Burgaz raki company, has affected the police investigation. Perhaps the most common accusation is that Cem's parents used their fortune (purportedly $1.5 million) and business and alleged mafia connections to spirit Cem out of the country and away from the clutches of justice. Since his disappearance over three months ago, there have been reports claiming he was smuggled out of Turkey in the back of a truck from the Black Sea port of Samsun to Odessa in the Ukraine. The demands for justice for Munevver have not abated, after several protests in her memory, numerous Facebook support groups have been established including some linked to Interpol, which has released a "wanted" report on Cem Garipoglu, who speaks Russian, Chinese, Italian, French and English. More surprising are the groups supporting Cem. Some even suggest that despite the evidence he was also killed on the same night. The level of vitriol and vituperation which these Internet contributors have attracted is shocking, with Munevver's supporters wishing that the pro-Cem group suffer the same fate as Munevver. Until Cem Garipoglu is found, the controversy is unlikely to abate. Before his departure Celattin Cerrah had reportedly sought the help of a Izmir psychic to discover the whereabouts of the fugitive. One would like to think that if he is found and returned to Turkey, Cem would have a fair trial, but the level of media attention around the case makes this improbable, if not impossible. Even if he does return his life expectancy could be limited - his father was immediately placed in solitary confinement following his arrest over fears of a public lynching. Fazile Zahir is of Turkish descent, born and brought up in London. She moved to live in Turkey in 2005 and has been writing full time since then. (Copyright 2009 Fazile Zahir
