“It’s Really Important For Women Legists To Be Active”

Ms. Aybüke, we know you from your work on rights advocacy, especially on refugees, but it will be good for those who do not know you if you may tell us about yourself briefly. I was born in Aksaray in 1983. I graduated from Selçuk University Law Faculty in 2007. I am actively working as […]

Ms. Aybüke, we know you from your work on rights advocacy, especially on refugees, but it will be good for those who do not know you if you may tell us about yourself briefly.

I was born in Aksaray in 1983. I graduated from Selçuk University Law Faculty in 2007. I am actively working as a lawyer since 2008. I worked as a corporate lawyer for a long time, then I wanted to expand my volunteer activities for non-governmental organizations to a more professional area. In 2013, we established the International Refugee Rights Association together with my other colleagues and founding members. I have been the general secretary of this association for a long time and also the lawyer as a refugee rights advocate. Since then, I am actively working in the field of refugee law. Currently, I am keeping on these activities in the field of foreigner’s law in my own office and also on the basis of the associations I am a member of.

We are in the week of March 8th and the violence against women continues. What do you see when you look at this issue through justice or through your own experiences?

Violence against women is something we have been in and have witnessed since childhood since we are women. It is something you hope to be reduced as women grow up, but unfortunately, it is a process that increasingly continues. Of course, when you work as a lawyer, you encounter even more painful events. You see that all steps taken to provide a solution are insufficient. Yes, there are very positive developments in law by international contracts etc. But unfortunately, there is a serious difference between law being theoretical and practical. Unless we realize that this is a social problem, law enforcement officers also fail on this matter. We also saw this from the bitter news reflected in the media. Unless you can make your voice heard on social media or form a public opinion, we see that many cases have been subjected to unfairness, that were unjustified, that many women ended up being wrong even if they suffered, or that sometimes there are problems arising from prosecutors, sometimes from judges and sometimes from the law enforcers of the other parties. You have to make more noise to overcome this. For this reason, non-governmental organizations are very important. It is really important for women lawyers working in this field to be more active…

The field of rights advocacy is important, but how do you consider justice to be shaped according to exact reactions, and the decisions to be changed through social media’s responsiveness?

There is a concept that we call social media justice, a situation that takes part in literature. But this also goes with a lynch culture. Because when you carry an event to social media, even if you carry it in good faith, it suddenly has an avalanche effect and the reactions would go to unexpected areas. Sometimes lynch occurs when something is not concretely revealed, and it doesn’t matter if the person is guilty or not. It is a universal rule of law, everyone is innocent until their guilt is proved, this is a situation that we call presumption of innocence. Unfortunately, social media justice disregards this presumption and this universal principle of law, this is a serious violation of law.

But the reason I draw attention to social media, especially in violence against women and some other events is that for example Şule Çet case was one of the most famous cases, and there were other similar cases as well. If the accused is the son of a known businessman or someone famous, there is a view that the woman is guilty. Then when you try explain that this is not the case, you believe that you cannot make your voice heard when during the case or file process. You have to use different channels and get support. But as I said, it is sometimes difficult to control how much it is possible to manage this or how healthy it is, but it is an undeniable fact that we need support.

“Violence Against Refugee Women Is Much Greater”

Rights advocates remain under pressure and there have been ongoing lawsuits in this area. What do you experience as a lawyer who legally struggles individually?

Since my main field has been refugee law for the last 5-6 years, I would like to give examples about women. Violence against women is a serious problem in Turkey, but violence against foreign women is even greater. Because they are ignored or seemed dispensable. When a foreign woman comes to Turkey, she comes either with a residence permit or as an asylum seeker. Maybe she comes to Turkey illegally without any passports or visas. It is so easy for these people to be sent back or deported! Unfortunately, there are foreign women who are considered as potential threats even if they are legally allowed to stay in Turkey if they are involved in a crime or if they are victims of a crime. Especially if she is a refugee and if she has no protection. She is already having accommodation problems, and when she is sent to another country, especially to her own, she will be under pressure because of her religion, belief or gender. But on the other hand, she has been the victim of a crime in Turkey, and even when she wants to defend her rights, she cannot even access answerers. They are under serious fear and threat, and there are very few lawyers and legists who work on their defense.

“Unless you can make your voice heard on social media or form a public opinion, we see that many cases have been subjected to unfairness, that were unjustified, that many women ended up being wrong even if they suffered, or that sometimes there are problems arising from prosecutors, sometimes from judges and sometimes from the law enforcers of the other parties.”

How does this legal struggle take place, how are the mechanisms formed, or is there even a mechanism?

Mechanisms are usually formed through one-to-one relationships. Communication between foreigner people is good among themselves. More precisely, this is how minority psychology works. They find and try to support each other. If there is a lawyer they know who works in this field, they ask for support. When the case devolves to us, we investigate and evaluate at the case as much as we can, and try to deal with it. There are dozens of refugee women, or perhaps refugees who are subjected to injustice, whom we are unaware of and we are unable to support to. There is also another situation: Even if a foreigner is not involved in a crime, if there is a trial, his or her identity card is cancelled and the person is deported. This is a situation that especially happens to Syrians today. For example, if there is a debt relationship, or a debate due to the credits or debits, the asylum-seeker is threatened, and he or she goes and complains about the situation. But they cancel the person’s identity card and send him or her back. Actually, the person is not guilty at all. So what do these people do then? They prefer not to go to the law.

What kind of mechanisms can civil society create among these judicial issues or on the issues of justice, can you tell us as you know about the field?

We talk about the branches of law, as one branch of the lawyers and one branch of judges and prosecutors. Actually, we have more duties as lawyers, as rights defenders. Maybe we can be insufficient as a law enforcer when reaching the solution, but we can be sufficient to make their voices heard. The Istanbul Bar Association did a good work in this sense, as a refugee rights center. They set up a phone service and put translators on the line. If there is a translator who can be reached within institutions just like a foreign tip line, and at least understand the language of the foreigners, the problem may have been solved. In fact, Not only a translator would be enough. For example we witnessed this when we went to the Immigration Service: the officer told the person to go away if he didn’t know Turkish. Well, he came to you because he didn’t know Turkish at all. He doesn’t have to speak Turkish but the officer has to speak a foreign language.

What would you like to say as a young lawyer? What future vision do you have for yourself, for women and for the country?

I always have a hopeful future vision. I believe this way, I live this way and I try to live as I believe. Why so? Yes, we encounter bad events every day, and we see that the justice mechanism does not provide justice. But it should not put an end to the struggle or create despair, actually the opposite, it must empower us. Because I am a woman, a lawyer, this door has opened for me, I have certain experiences. If I can save even one person, if I can put a smile on the face of one person, this would be enough for me.

Perhaps the most important feature of lawyers or rights defenders, especially in the field of refugees, is that people know they can reach you and that they are able to find a counterpart. Even this is enough.