This individual is a guest contributor. MEI is not able to assist with contact requests.
Burcu Karakaş is an independent investigative journalist based in Istanbul, Turkey. She is the Turkey correspondent for Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle and was previously a Non-Resident Scholar with MEI’s Turkey Program. Her reporting focuses on human rights, migration, free speech and gender issues. Over the years, she focused on the stories of ethnic, sexual and religious minority groups in Turkey. She is an award-winning reporter, including the European Union Investigative Journalist Prize for her work on suspicious deaths of women in southeastern Turkey. Karakaş has teamed up with the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for “Media Ownership Monitor Turkey” and the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) for in-depth investigative journalism projects. She is the author of four books on minority issues and media landscape in Turkey. Alongside her reporting, she teaches journalism students at university, lecturing on interview techniques and media criticism. She was a Logan Nonfiction Fellow at the Carey Institute of Global Good in 2019.
Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.
“I urge all governments to put women’s safety first as they respond to the pandemic.”
Women in Turkey are subjected to violence regardless of socio-economic status. Unlike many countries around the world, laws are in place to prevent and combat violence against women. But sadly, when it comes to implementing these laws, failures leave women unprotected against male violence. The government’s patriarchal approach is one of the main barriers to the implementation of legislation already on the books.
