Ankara (AFP) – When Turkish pop star Sila reported her partner’s physical violence to police, it was a rare moment in Turkish history: a celebrity speaking out against her abuse.

Ahmet Kural, a famous actor, is accused of beating the singer, whose full name is Sila Gencoglu, in October.

Kural’s trial begins on Thursday in Istanbul, one day before International Women’s Day, celebrated with a march in the metropolis, and rallies in other cities.

For Sila’s lawyer, Rezan Epozdemir, her case is a powerful moment for Turkish women since victims do not usually come forward.

Rights groups say Turkish laws to help protect victims have improved. But traditional patriarchal attitudes dominant in conservative society as well as a lack of awareness often prevent women from speaking out against abuse.

“It is extremely significant that a woman who experienced violence freely sought her rights and took legal action, and for her case to be at the centre of debate,” Epozdemir told AFP.

Kural faces up to five years in jail for charges including actual bodily harm, which the television and film actor denies.

Activists say the number of Turkish women murdered by their partners is rising and more suffer physical or sexual abuse by partners or male relatives.

In 2018, 440 women were killed in murders linked to their gender, according to the women’s rights group We Will Stop Femicide, compared with 210 in 2012.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu last November said 133,809 women had been victims of violence in 2017 while in the first 10 months of 2018, the number was 96,417.

A 2014 government study found 38 percent of Turkish women had been subjected to either physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives.

Canan Gullu, head of the Federation of Women Associations of Turkey (TKDF), said after Sila’s action, there were “many more calls” to their emergency hotline from female victims of abuse empowered by the singer’s actions.

Gullu said more women had become aware of their rights and the law that protects them from violence.

– More shelters needed –

Turkey was the first country to ratify the 2011 Istanbul Convention, the world’s most progressive binding accord to prevent and combat violence against women.

Feride Acar, a Turkish academic at Middle East Technical University (METU), who contributed to the text, said improvements had been made in Turkey, but more needed to be done to build on the convention’s promise.

The convention calls for more shelters, known as violence protection monitoring centres in Turkey, which Acar praised. But she said more access to the shelters was needed.

Ankara-based lawyer Gunce Cetin, who advises victims of violence, noted police officers were also not applying the law in practice.

“Sometimes police don’t remind women they have a right to a lawyer. This is very valuable,” she said.

Cetin and Acar said more training was needed for police and judiciary personnel to handle such cases.

– ‘Nobody wants violence’ –

Although there appears to be an increase in violence against women, Acar said “data is not really reliable and it’s not there to cover all types and incidents of violence”.

But Acar said more incidents are reported in Turkey than before.

Another high-profile case is that of Sule Cet, a university student. Her face appeared on protest posters after she was found dead last May. Two men are on trial for her sexual assault and murder (AFP Photo/ADEM ALTAN).”

“Nobody wants violence against women, whether you are a conservative or whether you are a liberal,” she said.

One issue is that conservative elements in Turkish society “do not see violence as a reflection of gender inequality”, she said, which leads to problems in preventing violence.

The government insists violence against women is taken seriously and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lambasted it as a “betrayal of humanity”.

But critics worry women’s rights in general may be eroded under Erdogan, who draws strong support from Turkey’s religiously conservative sectors.

– Lower sentences –

One of the concerns for Cetin and rights activists is the application of leniency and lower sentences for good behaviour in cases of violence against women.

Activists also criticise attempts to discredit victims during trials by defendants’ lawyers or the suspects in order to minimise the seriousness of crimes against women.

One high-profile case illustrating those problems is that of Sule Cet, a university student, found dead last May. Two men went on trial last month, accused of her sexual assault and murder after claiming she had fallen from the 20th floor of a tower block in Ankara.

The case caused a furore, especially after the first hearing in which one of the defendant’s lawyers speculated that Cet was not a virgin.

Sila’s lawyer also criticised parts of the media for dishonest reporting of her case.

But Epozdemir remained optimistic: “I hope that the outcome of the case will reveal the truth and a decision will be given in the interest of justice.”

© Agence France-Presse

Featured Photo: “Rights groups say Turkish laws to help protect victims have advanced but traditional patriachal attitudes and lack of awareness often prevent women from speaking out (AFP Photo/Yasin AKGUL).”

“You cannot make Turkey take a step back with sanctions,” Erdogan said in his first comments since relations soured after Trump threatened the measures on Thursday if Pastor Andrew Brunson was not released.

“The US should not forget that it could lose a strong and sincere partner like Turkey if it does not change its attitude,” he was quoted as saying by Hurriyet daily.

“The change of attitude is Trump’s problem, not mine,” he told journalists during a visit to South Africa, calling the US threats “psychological warfare”.

Relations between the NATO allies have worsened over the jailing of Brunson, who ran a Protestant church in the Aegean city of Izmir.

He was held in a Turkish jail for almost two years on terror charges but was placed under house arrest on Wednesday.

Trump on Thursday hit back at the move, calling for his immediate release and warning that the US would impose “large sanctions on Turkey for their long time detainment” of Brunson.

Ties had already been strained over multiple issues including Washington’s support of a Syrian Kurdish militia which Turkey views as a terrorist group and the failure to extradite the Pennsylvania-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen.

Erdogan in September suggested Turkey could free Brunson if the US handed over Gulen — an offer brushed off by Washington.

– No ‘bargaining chip’ –

Ankara accuses Gulen of ordering the 2016 failed overthrow of Erdogan, a claim he strongly denies.

The Washington Post on Friday reported a deal between Ankara and Washington was made to secure the release of a Turkish woman imprisoned in Israel in exchange for the freedom of Brunson.

Ebru Ozkan, 27, had been held for over a month by Israel on charges of passing hundreds of dollars to a “terrorist” group, but she returned to Turkey on July 16.

The newspaper said the agreement was “personally sealed” by Trump but fell apart when Brunson was transferred to house arrest.

Erdogan addressed the claims, stressing that Turkey had “never made Pastor Brunson a bargaining chip.”

However, he said Ankara had asked for Washington’s help in securing Ozkan’s return home.

“But we didn’t say: ‘In return for this, we will give you Brunson’. Nothing like this was discussed,” Erdogan insisted.

Brunson risks up to 35 years in jail if found guilty of charges of carrying out activities on behalf of two groups deemed by Turkey to be terror organisations — the Gulen movement and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Brunson rejects the accusations while US officials have repeatedly insisted the pastor is innocent.

– International arbitration –

Temperatures were further raised when the US threatened in June to block the delivery of F-35 stealth jets to Turkey if Ankara buys Russia’s S-400 air defence system.

But Erdogan suggested Turkey would not sit idly by if this happened.

“We told (the US): ‘If you don’t give them, there is something called international arbitration. We will seek international arbitration’,” he said.

Another source of tension is the prison sentence of 32 months for deputy director general of Turkish lender Halkbank Mehmet Hakan Atilla convicted of plotting to help Iran evade US sanctions on billions of dollars of Iranian oil proceeds.

Turkish officials insist Atilla is innocent but Halkbank still faces a penalty from the US Treasury.

Featured Photo: AFP/File / – Brunson ran a Protestant church in the Aegean city of Izmir.