ISTANBUL // When Dursune Alici left her husband, Ustun, to get a divorce after years of beatings, the violence did not stop.
Mr Alici went to his estranged wife's new home in the province of Samsun to persuade her to come back to him. When she refused, he repeatedly struck her on the head with a pair of pliers and then used them to torture her.
The attack last month sparked angry headlines about the "torture with pliers" and highlighted Turkey's inability to overcome the chronic problem of violence against women.
News of Ms Alici's case came as Turkey considers new legislation to combat domestic violence and as the country debates one group's advice that, if all else fails, women should get a gun and learn how to use it.
Two hundred and fifty two women were killed by their husbands, relatives or lovers last year alone, up from 217 in 2010, according to bianet.org, a news website. Bianet said at least 220 women were injured and more than a hundred were raped by people close to them.
Last week, Fatma Sahin, Turkey's women's-affairs minister, presented a draft law designed to combat domestic violence at a cabinet meeting in Ankara. But Sefkat-Der, a private charity whose name translates to Association of Kindness and that helps women, drug addicts and the homeless, had an alternative suggestion to improve the situation.
"Generally, we are not in favour of guns," Hayrettin Bulan, Sefkat-Der's founder and chairman, said from his home in the Anatolian city of Konya. "But the state does not fulfil its duties, measures against violence are inadequate. In some cases, women are dead before the police arrive."
A "Guide for Women in Lethal Danger", posted on Sefkat-Der's website, includes numerous suggestions on how women can avoid being beaten or even killed if the police and the judiciary fail to protect them.
Advice ranges from moving to a different city and paying electricity bills under a new name so women cannot be tracked down by vengeful husbands, to suggestions that women take self-defence classes, carry pepper spray and wear trainers at all times to be able to outrun an assailant.
But it is Sefkat-Der's position on firearms that has attracted most interest and has stirred controversy.
"Weapons training is very important," the guide says, stressing that young women should learn how to use a gun before they get married, because their husbands may veto any such training later. In a paragraph titled "Last resort", the association tells women they have the right to hurt or even kill an assailant if their own life or that of their children is in danger.
"If you think injuring him will not save your life, you may take out a potential murderer," the guide says, explaining that this means killing or severely injuring the attacker.
Mr Bulan said that about 3,500 women have asked Sefkat-Der for information about weapons training since the self-defence guide was posted on the website last November. He put the number of Turkish women living "under a very serious threat" at home at between 5,000 and 10,000. Sefkat-Der was still thinking about offering its own weapons training classes to women, he said.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about Sefkat-Der's ideas. Ms Sahin, the women's affairs minister, said the group's suggestions were "very wrong", asking in a newspaper interview: "Can there be a solution with firearms? Will the problem be solved by turning women and men against each other?"
Turkey is awash with both legal and illegal firearms. The Umut Foundation, an anti-gun pressure group, says there are 2.5 million legal and 5.5 million illegal guns in homes around the country. The group says about 40 million of Turkey's 75 million citizens have access to a gun if family members of gun-owners are taken into account.
Mr Bulan said he was sceptical whether Ms Sahin's plan for a new law would work. The real problem was the attitude of the police and the judiciary, he said. "Even if a woman is given police protection, that only means she gets a number she can call."
According to the count by bianet.org, 11 of the women killed last year had applied to prosecutors for police protection or had already received it.
The situation was made worse by courts that often showed tolerance towards male offenders, Mr Bulan said. "In many cases, they get reduced sentences because the court says they were provoked by their victims. And courts often do not put offenders into pre-trial detention. It is terrible."
Ms Alici, the victim of the "torture with pliers", was saved by neighbours, who called the police when they heard the woman's screams. While the 38-year-old mother of two was taken to hospital, her husband, 41, fled the scene but was later arrested, news reports said.
"Up until now I never said a word because of the children," Ms Alici was quoted as saying about the violence she endured over the years. "But then I could not take it anymore. So I left him."
tseibert@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Our family matters legal consultant
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Sarfira
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Things Heard & Seen
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BRAZIL SQUAD
Alisson (Liverpool), Daniel Fuzato (Roma), Ederson (Man City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Danilo (Juventus), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Emerson (Real Betis), Felipe (Atletico Madrid), Marquinhos (PSG), Renan Lodi (Atletico Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG); Arthur (Barcelona), Casemiro (Real Madrid), Douglas Luiz (Aston Villa), Fabinho (Liverpool), Lucas Paqueta (AC Milan), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich); David Neres (Ajax), Gabriel Jesus (Man City), Richarlison (Everton), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Rodrygo (Real Madrid), Willian (Chelsea).
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The rules of the road keeping cyclists safe
Cyclists must wear a helmet, arm and knee pads
Have a white front-light and a back red-light on their bike
They must place a number plate with reflective light to the back of the bike to alert road-users
Avoid carrying weights that could cause the bike to lose balance
They must cycle on designated lanes and areas and ride safe on pavements to avoid bumping into pedestrians
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Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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