Femicide

Gulsum Kav, founder of We Will Stop Femicide

Femicide - the killing of women and girls because of their gender - is the most extreme form of gender-based violence, but in many countries no record is kept of the number of cases. BBC 100 Women spoke to three women who carry out detective work to identify femicides, and obtain justice for victims.


Gulsum Kav began a campaign to stop femicide in 2010, the year after the dead body of a teenager, Munevver Karabulut, was found in a bin in Istanbul. It took police more than six months to track down the suspect, leading to protests on the streets of Istanbul.


One of Gulsum's goals was to understand how many murders take place Turkey, in which the killer's motive is gender-related.


Another was to provide support to Munevver's family as the case came to trial. "We have a slogan today, 'You will never walk alone,' which came from this," she says.


But soon Gulsum and her fellow activists in We Will Stop Femicide found themselves taking on the role of investigators.


"It started when a letter arrived from a family who believed their daughter had died in suspicious circumstances," she says.


This was the case of Esin Gunes, a young teacher whose body was found at the bottom of a cliff in Siirt province, south-eastern Turkey, in August 2010.

What is femicide?

• Femicide is defined as "the murder of women because they are women" or "the gender-related killing of women and girls"
• Eighteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have adopted specific laws making femicide a criminal offence
• In many other countries the word is not widely used, but is increasingly being adopted by campaigners against gender-based violence

Esin's husband said they had gone to the area for a walk and a picnic, and she had slipped to her death. While the authorities initially accepted this story, the family didn't, as Esin had only recently returned to her husband after walking out and saying she wanted a divorce.


Gulsum's team commissioned a report which proved it was not physically possible to fall in the way she did and that she must have been thrown. This led to her husband's conviction for murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Since that first case, the team has worked on over 30 suspected femicides.  READ MORE...

History of the Orient Express

The "Orient Express" was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The carriages which now make up the world renowned, luxury train - the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, have each acquired their own history and special character developed over years of travelling the original Orient Express route, which was simply a normal international railway service across Europe.

In 1864, George Mortimer Pullman, a creative railway constructor, built a train in Great Britain that featured all the up-to-date technology of the time. His train employed more advanced technology and was far more luxurious than anything else that existed in Europe at the time.

From the 1870's parlour cars and sleeping carriages were put in service in Britain and passengers of those trains were the first to enjoy the novelty of having their meals served on board a train. In 1881 the Pullman Limited Express began operating an all Pullman service between London and Brighton and George Mortimer Pullman progressed by connecting train services to ferry services to offer luxury train travel between London and Paris.

Around the same time, a Belgian railway entrepreneur named George Nagelmackers started building luxury rail carriages and in 1883 started the first Orient-Express service from Paris to Giurgi in Romania. His train featured sleeping carriages and the first restaurant cars to be offered on a continental train.

In 1906, the Simplon Tunnel was completed. It was the longest tunnel in the world at the time and connected Switzerland to Italy under the Alps and drastically reduced the travelling time between Paris and Venice. In the 1920's the Orient-Express name became synonymous with intrigue and luxury travel and it had started its Simplon-Orient-Express journey from Paris to Constantinople (Ïstanbul) ushering in the heyday of luxury rail journeys that were enjoyed by celebrities, Royalty and spies alike. This opulent method of travel featured fine wines served with elaborate meals and luxurious accommodation. The Orient Express service was a showcase of luxury and comfort at a time when travelling was still rough and dangerouss

During the Second World War, frontiers across Europe were closed and ferry services cancelled, putting and end to this decadent mode of travel. Cheaper and faster air travel was the nail in the coffin for the Orient-Express and the service ceased in 1977.

The train carriages were sold off at a Sotherby's auction in Monte Carlo that year and two of the carriages were purchased by rail enthusiast and millionaire entrepreneur, James B Sherwood. Over the next few years he spent many millions tracing and purchasing 35 of the original CIWL vintage carriages from the 1920s and 1930s and restoring them to their former glory.

In 1982 the legend of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express was reborn as the world famous train made its maiden journey from London to Venice. Today, you can board the beautifully restored, luxurious carriages and participate in one of the most famous and romantic journeys in the world on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express.

Northwest Turkey

HALFWAY BETWEEN ISTANBUL AND ANKARA, in one of the most historic and beautiful parts of northwest Turkey, is a deep valley covered in dense pine forests and blessed with thermal springs. 

And in this valley is something that seems right out of a Disney movie: row upon row of identical, castle-like, turreted chateaus. When the occasional morning mist enshrouds the blue towers, it’s a dreamy scene, but when you look a little closer, something seems off. The roads between them are unfinished. 

Construction debris litters the ground. And there’s not a soul in sight. It’s a fairy tale ghost town, an ambitious, luxurious development project that fell victim to mismanagement and global financial currents.

Burj Al Babas, as the place is known, is located a few miles from the historic town of Mudurnu, once at the crossroads of the Silk Road and the Crimean Road. 

Over the years it lost its position as a trading hub, was reborn as the center of Turkey’s poultry industry, and most recently has turned to tourism to drive the local economy, partly through the efforts of the Mudurnu Cutural Heritage Site Management Directorate. 

Turkish officials have even proposed making the town a UNESCO World Heritage Site, including its characteristic black-and-white Ottoman mansions.  READ MORE