JINHA

MÊRDÎN–AKP Prime Minister AhmetDavutoğlu traveled to Mardin to unveil a new action plan to address violence against women, proposing "rage control" and "mercy" as the answers to the dizzying rate of femicide in the country.

AhmetDavutoğluopened his Women's Day speech by equating womanhood with motherhood.

"For us every day depends on a conversational environment in the family. For us every day is a day for women, for showing respect for mothers. Every day that women's hands are kissed, every day that women interact with their husbands with pleasant conversation is women's day," said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister calledfirst of allfor "mercy." "Women want to see mercy as well," he said, saying that raising children with principles of mercy would ensure that city governors and police, for example, had these same principles.

The prime minister presented an "Action Plan Against Violence Against Women" including a proposed electronic monitoring system for those convicted of violence against women. He proposed a system for rehabilitating perpetrators, saying that the state would undertake an analysis of the profile of perpetrators of "cases that end in death" (as he referred to femicides) in order to develop the "rage control" plan.

The Prime Minister avoided discussing thestate courts' policy of liberal distribution of sentence reductions for perpetrators or the massive increase in femicides under AKP rule.

He did, however, remind citizens that they could contact the AKP's "Women's Guest Houses" (a program for women experiencing domestic violence) via SMS.

(şg/fk/mg/cm)