Şehriban Aslan 

 

SİİRT - Sibel Güneş Tardu, a lawyer from Siirt Bar, explained that they planned the "monitoring process of the MPs" initiated by the Women's Platform for Equality in three stages.

 

The Women's Platform for Equality (EŞİK) has taken the parliamentarians to one-on-one and close monitoring to revoking a decision of the Istanbul Convention, which was unanimously accepted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly and terminated by the Presidential Decree, and to protect the acquired women’s rights. EŞİK, which started this work on May 10, published a statement titled "Hundreds of women from seven regions and 81 provinces of Turkey were monitoring MPs one-on-one and closely." With this work, EŞİK will monitor what the MPs do to defend the rights of women, children and LGBTI+ individually both in the parliament and in the provinces where they are representatives, and report what they did or did not do. In this work, which is the continuation of the parliamentary monitoring and reporting work carried out by the EŞİK for seven months, hundreds of women from women’s organizations that are or are not a component of the platform will be cooperated with and the MPs will be monitored until July 1.

 

Diyarbakır, Batman and Siirt Bar Associations and women’s organizations are also involved in this work initiated. Sibel Güneş Tardu, a lawyer from Siirt Bar Association and a member of the EŞİK Platform, informed our agency about the campaign.

 

‘Our biggest goal is power’s stepping back from annulment of convention’

 

Reminding that the Istanbul Convention will be abolished as of July 1 with its publication in the Official Gazette, Sibel noted that the EŞİK initiated the "monitoring process of the MPs" against the unlawfulness of the termination of the convention. Sibel said: “Our biggest goal is power’s stepping back from annulment of convention. In addition, we will prepare a report for the public to see whether the MPs have carried out an effective activity after the decision to withdraw from the convention. In this way, we will learn who speaks about women how much and how much women’s rights are sought. Another aim is to put pressure on the assembly. We will watch MPs to speak more about women. As women, we will say that we are carrying out our organized struggle and we are here.”

 

Three-stage monitoring

 

Stating that they have determined which women will follow which MPs in 81 provinces, Sibel said: “This follow-up will be continued in 15-day periods until July 1. The first way we monitor is we see the MPs sharing what they will do on their social media accounts, and we will monitor from there. The second is the speeches of the parliament, the press statements within his/her party. Third, we will monitor from their shares in the local press. Then we will fill in the form we have created and submit it to the report.”

 

‘We will also look at the places chosen during the visits’

 

Noting that there is a male assembly, Sibel said that they will especially watch carefully whether the words "our women and lady" are used. Sibel said: “We will look at the stage of the contact of the MPs with NGOs, which is one of the most important topics. One of the main sources of pressure on the parliament is NGO collaborations. Afterwards, we will look at the case-by-case monitoring of femicides, violence against women, hate speech against LGBTI+ and woman poverty. Also, how does he/she choose the places that the MPs make during their visit? Is the chosen place sexist? For example, we will pay attention to whether there is a sexist approach by looking at whether it is a coffeehouse or a sports club.”

 

‘We will carry out the works actively’

 

Referring to who participated in the region lastly, Sibel noted the following statements: “We are currently conducting a work within ourselves, including three provinces, Diyarbakır, Batman and Siirt. There are seven different regions. Our region is also the cities I mentioned. So, I can say that we coordinated as a mixed structure. And we will actively carry out our work.”