Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Turkey| Use of Social Media in the Struggle Surrounding Violence Against Turkish Women

Abstract

Increasingly large numbers of women in Turkey have suffered abuse or lost their lives through attacks by men. In 2019 alone, 474 women were killed by men. Based on theories of connective action and affective publics, this study examines online activism regarding violence against Turkish women through a qualitative content analysis of Twitter messages with popular hashtags. Posts addressing six different cases of violent crimes directed at women that took place between 2015 and 2019 constituted the sample. The results show that large numbers support women through postings and repostings of solidarity, emotional expressions, remembrance, and dissemination of information. Because of the government’s authoritarian and repressive tactics in silencing critical voices on social media and in the streets, the potential to build an organized social movement to curtail these violent crimes is minimal.