FAQ

F.A.Q.

The Federation of Women Associations of Turkey (TKDF) is an independent women's umbrella organization working with the dream of building a world without violence where gender equality is achieved. Having 10 independent women's organizations within its structure, TKDF has a very wide network in local, national, and international fields with 180 branches in Turkey, 9 international and 7 national representatives. It works to achieve and secure gender equality by using a combination of methods such as feminist activism, advocacy, research, data collection and knowledge generation, reporting, training, monitoring, and networking. TKDF defines the violence suffered by women, girls and LGBTQI individuals as a fundamental violation of human rights and discrimination and pursue its work from a rights-based perspective.

The hotline was first established by the newspaper Hürriyet in 2003 under the ‘End Domestic Violence’ project and has been operated by the Federation of Women Associations of Turkey since 2014. The Domestic Violence Emergency Hotline is the first and only emergency hotline operating in Turkey to prevent and respond to violence against women. Women who call the hotline to seek help are referred to relevant institutions and organizations as per their requests and needs by psychologists, social workers and legal experts specialized in violence. Follow-up is carried out for each case and support is provided to take necessary measures so as to ensure women do not have to return to that violent environment and protect them from any further hurt.

Social workers or psychologists respond to the individuals who call our emergency hotline at 0212 656 96 96 or 0 549 656 96 96. Our colleagues decide what action to take depending on each specific case and in case of emergency, they call the police station or gendarmerie depending on the victim’s place of residence to ensure that the law enforcement reach the victim as quickly as possible. Afterwards we ensure that necessary actions are followed up. In case incidents are reported by someone outside the household, law enforcement is directed to the house at the time of the incident. Otherwise, the caller is informed that they should be calling at the time of the incident next time. Information is also provided to those who call to understand their current circumstances and inquire about their rights. Apart from MoFSS, we provide recovery service with our dedicated psychologist and psychiatrist colleagues in abuse cases.

Violence is the whole of actions and behaviours that harm an individual physically, economically, psychologically and/or sexually. Violence is a specific incident. Once it starts, it will go on. Stopping violence can be achieved through solidarity and determination.

They are the actions that harm an individual psychologically. Psychological violence, for instance, can have the form of shouting, insulting, humiliating, controlling, limiting one's actions, relationships, clothing, lifestyle, and making one feels worthless.

It is all kinds of actions that physically harm an individual as a result of the use of physical force. Physical violence may include, for example, pushing, punching, slapping, throwing objects, trying to strangulate, restricting the individual's freedom, attacking, or threatening with a gun, knife or any other instrument or object, or even preventing an individual from accessing medical attention.

It is all kind of actions that harm an individual economically arising from the use of economic resources as a supervision and control mechanism on the individual. Economic violence can include, for instance, damaging property, violating an individual's right to work, restricting access to rights of education and alimony, preventing, or trying to prevent situations that will enable an individual to promote in their career, or not covering household expenses at all or covering them to an insufficient extent.

It is any act that violates the sexual freedom of the individual. Sexual violence can be, for example, coercion of sexual intercourse by brute force, forcing sexual intercourse with emotional coercion, making unwanted sexual comments and gestures that disturb an individual, imposing and controlling when and how many children an individual will have, and forcing into prostitution.

Stalking is the exposure of an individual to a repetitive attention which they do not want, makes them uneasy and uncomfortable. Stalking may be in the form of, for example, physically following and spying on an individual, violating an individual's private life, threatening, making unwanted communication with a person, regularly giving unwanted gifts, watching over how an individual uses the internet and social media, publishing notifications or materials (photographs, SMS, e-mail, etc.) that are related to or alleged to be relevant to an individual, unauthorized access to their property.

Digital violence refers to the use of the internet or various social networks with the intent of assaulting, humiliating, harassing or intimidating an individual. It might involve sending to or pressuring the others to send obscene pictures and/or videos, constantly asking for and/or hacking their social media passwords, checking out their cell phone, or posting humiliating content related to that individual on their own social network accounts.

Dating violence is when a partner engages emotional, physical and/or sexual violence against their partner during the dating period. Dating violence may be in the form of a person's partner getting angry with them, hitting, and shouting them, be jealous of them, stalking and humiliating them, restricting an individual's communication with their family and/or friends, exposing them to unwanted sexual acts.

Mobbing is exclusion, discrimination, and/or harassment that is consistently practiced by a person's colleagues and/or supervisors in the workplace. Mobbing may be verbal and/or physical assault, spreading rumours about a person, leaving them unaware of important meetings and correspondence, preventing an individual from inter-office socialization, and ignoring their opinions.

Mansplaining is the synthesis of the English words ‘man’ and ‘explain’. Mansplaining means that a man tells a woman the subject without any knowledge and/or experience of the subject -regardless of the woman's expertise or knowledge on the subject- in a condescending, self-confident manner and completely simplifying the subject. If you are interrupted with sentences such as "Didn’t I tell you ……?", "You don’t know it, let me tell you the truth", "Honey/Dear it is not like that" or if you do not want an explanation on the subject and/or the man has attempted to explain or comment without asking you whether you would like an explain, that is mansplaining.

One violence breeds another. You may be exposed to more than one type of violence at the same time. It is up to you to stop the violence before it's too late, and always remember that the law is on your side. If you have been exposed to violence and/or want to help someone who has been exposed to violence, here are the channels you can apply to: • The Federation of Women Associations of Turkey Domestic Violence Emergency Hotline (+90 212 656 96 96 or +90 549 656 96 96) • Ministry of Family and Social Services 183 Social Support Helpline • Police Emergency Line 155 • Gendarmerie Emergency Line 156 • Women's Support Application (KADES) • Bar Associations • Women NGOs • Municipal counselling centre lines

Your help can make a big difference to the life of the individual who is subjected to violence. If individuals think they are being judged and/or criticized, they may be reluctant to speak out about the violence they have suffered and ask for help. In contrast, if they feel that they are supported and encouraged by your help, they will feel stronger and be able to make decisions. If there is a person who has been exposed to physical, psychological, economic and/or sexual violence, you can get information and get the necessary support by calling our Emergency Hotline, which is run by our Federation, as well as law enforcement forces.

Turkish Constitution Turkish Penal Code Law No. 6284 on Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Convention on the Rights of the Child Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (İstanbul Convention)