Family and Social Services Minister Mahinur Özdemir Göktaş stated that the ministry aims to support women and girls living in provinces affected by the earthquake and those that received high numbers of migrants afterward.
She also emphasized that no individual at risk of or exposed to violence should feel alone.
Göktaş attended the event titled "Restructuring and Strengthening Preventive and Protective Services against Violence for Women and Girls Affected by Earthquakes in Türkiye," held in Ankara on June 18.
In her speech, she recalled that life came to a halt during the Feb. 6, 2023, earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, and immense pain was experienced that day. She noted that hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, families, neighbors, siblings and loved ones, and that women and girls were among those most affected by the disaster.
She explained that the project offers women and girls the chance for a new beginning, saying, “With new women’s shelters and restructured services, we will strengthen our fight against violence.”
Highlighting that women today can say, “I am no longer alone,” Minister Göktaş continued, “With this project, we aim to support women and girls who have been affected by the earthquake and who live in provinces that have seen heavy migration afterward. We want every individual at risk of or exposed to violence to feel they are not alone."
She also added: "We are working to improve access to qualified prevention, protection and empowerment services in line with national and international standards. With this vision, we built our project on four pillars. First, we will build four new women’s shelters in Adıyaman, Hatay, Istanbul and Kocaeli. Second, we will strengthen our services by renovating nine women’s shelters and six Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers.”
Göktaş said the third pillar of the project focuses on increasing the quality of services provided by personnel working in the field of violence through comprehensive training programs.
She emphasized that advanced therapy training would be expanded to improve psychological support services for women affected by violence, based on feedback from the field. “Additionally, to enhance case management effectiveness, we will train 40 personnel, at least five from each geographic region, as supervisors. For this purpose, we will organize train-the-trainer programs in basic counseling skills, crisis intervention and counseling, assessment, and case management.”
Göktaş also noted that special training will be offered to representatives and volunteers of organizations working on women’s issues on topics such as Law No. 6284, violence against women, victim-centered service provision, and inter-institutional cooperation. She expressed her satisfaction in being part of the transformation initiated by the project’s stakeholders.
According to Göktaş, the project's final pillar will focus on empowering women socially and economically. “We will conduct a ‘Skills Mapping and Needs Analysis’ study in Adana, Diyarbakır, Malatya, Hatay and Gaziantep. Through this study, we aim to identify the existing skills, needs and areas where women can be supported. Using our comprehensive survey, we will develop effective, localized solutions tailored to each province’s specific dynamics.”
Quoting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s words, “We will effectively continue the fight against violence and the root causes of violence with no exceptions,” Göktaş concluded: “With this belief, we have successfully implemented our policies to empower women and combat violence against women. Our National Action Plans to Combat Violence Against Women have always been our road map in these efforts."
"They enabled us to take comprehensive and sustainable steps in prevention, protection, prosecution and policy development. The project we introduced today will be a significant milestone in our longstanding work. We will persist in our fight with zero tolerance against violence. We will help women discover their potential and participate in life as more confident and active individuals,” she said.
