End Domestic Violence

End Domestic Violence! Campaign

The End Domestic Violence! Campaign, conducted by Hürriyet Newspaper, entered its seventh year in 2010. The campaign is based on an NGO approach that combines good corporate citizenship principles with scientific facts and legal values.

This campaign is recognized as one of the finest corporate social responsibility projects in Turkey; Hürriyet carries out differentiating activities to provide solutions to one of the most important problems in Turkey.

Through publications, international conferences, training programs, and similar activities, the campaign has been using the power of media for more than seven years to create awareness of domestic violence, to run sustainable projects, and to contribute significantly to further exposure and open discussion of this problem, and to the widespread acceptance of it as a social crime rather than a “family issue." The campaign continued to be a motivating factor for organizations to set and implement protection and prevention strategies.

The first major activity of the campaign in 2010 was the 4th End Domestic Violence! Conference and Güldünya Songs concert, held on March 8, in conjunction with the commemoration of International Women’s Day.

The conference, titled “How to Proceed,” focused on the advances and shortcomings of the struggle of Turkey and the West against domestic violence, steps to be taken to enforce the laws on the protection of women and family from violence, the need for women’s shelters in Turkey, and actions to be taken in further proceedings. Opened by Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, the Chairperson of Hürriyet, the conference hosted Selma Aliye Kavaf, Minister of State for Women and Family Affairs, as the main speaker. Other speakers included representatives from the United Nations Population Fund, Mor Çatı (Women’s Shelter Foundation), the Directorate of Social Services, and from the End Domestic Violence! Campaign, as well as other individuals whose hearts and minds are on this issue and who have carried out related international activities.

In the evening following the conference, Turkey’s most prominent male vocal artists came together on the stage to say “No to Violence.” The CDs and DVDs from this concert were offered for sale on November 25th, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Revenue from the recordings is donated to the helpline.

Emergency Helpline Receives Calls from 78 Cities and 12 Countries

One of the most important elements of Hürriyet’s End Domestic Violence! Campaign is Turkey’s first and only Emergency Helpline, offering assistance 24/7. The Helpline was established on October 15, 2007 with the support of Istanbul’s Governorship. Expanding its scope and handling an increased number of callers in 2009, the Helpline received approximately 25,000 inbound calls at the end of its first three years; 5,132 of these were recorded in 2010. Throughout 2010, the Helpline provided information on how it works, on the campaign, and on methods of assistance for victims, as well as legal, institutional and psychological support related to domestic violence. Of 2,138 individuals, 1,337 were victims, victim’s families or their relatives. Initially launched to help victims of violence in Istanbul, the Helpline has received calls from individuals in 78 of Turkey’s 81 cities and in 12 foreign countries during 2010, a clear indication of the widespread awareness of the service. To date, the helpline has saved more than 750 lives in 391 cases requiring emergency action. A book has been written to document the events witnessed and the experience acquired since the Domestic Violence Emergency Helpline was put into service in 2007.

End Domestic Violence! Photograph Competition

Domestic violence was the theme of a photograph competition held jointly by Hürriyet Newspaper’s End Domestic Violence! Campaign and photograph sharing website Fotopya. Open to all professional and amateur photographers, the competition received thousands of photographs from all around Turkey.

Supported by the Photographic Arts Federation of Turkey, the contest aimed to clarify public perception of domestic violence by visualizing it. The winner was Emel Karakozak, with a photograph entitled “Violence.” Nevzat Yıldırım received second place, with “Mother and Fear,” and Volkan Yıldız received third place with “Violence against Women.” The related photograph exhibition and award ceremony were held in January 2011.

In 2010, various governorships within Turkey continued to contact the End Domestic Violence! Campaign and the Emergency Helpline, which provides services from certified psychologists and lawyers, for training and cooperation requests. Training programs were carried out in different cities with the cooperation of their governorships, the State Ministry of Women and Family Affairs, and the Prime Ministry General Directorate of Social Services and Child Protection Agency. In 2010, training programs on inter-institutional cooperation were held in Yozgat, Antalya, Şanlıurfa, Trabzon, Erzincan, and Mardin. In addition, a training program on how to address and cope with crisis was held for the staff of 112 Emergency Call Centers in Antalya and Isparta, as well as the forensic doctors who attended the Forensic Science Congress in Izmir.

The End Domestic Violence! Campaign continued to reach students in 2010, as well. Senior high school students of the Izmit Enka School and the Beşiktaş Anatolian High School received domestic violence training.

Penti Hosiery continued to support the campaign, as they have done for the last two years. The Domestic Violence Emergency Helpline logo was offered to Penti, free of charge, and they placed it on the packages and cartonettes of six million socks; they also conducted in-store informational activities related to the Helpline.

Additionally, representatives of the End Domestic Violence! Campaign attended the bimonthly meetings of the Domestic Violence Commission of the Istanbul Governorship and submitted its related report to the governorship. Representatives also spoke at the Women’s Workshop of Kadıköy Municipality and at the domestic violence meeting of the General Directorate of Social Services and Child Protection Agency in Izmit. Other events attended by the representatives of the End Domestic Violence! Campaign included the National Action Plan Workshop on the Fight against Domestic Violence against Women, held by the General Directorate on the Status and Problems of Women; the KadınIst, International Women’s Meeting in Istanbul; and the General Assembly of Women's Shelters, in Söke. Based on feedback from inter-institutional cooperation training programs held in 33 cities, reports were compiled on the difficulties encountered by both the victims in their relations with institutions and related institutions in providing services to the victims, as well as on suggested solutions; these were submitted to relevant authorities.

End Domestic Violence