Domestic Space and Violence in Turkish Cinema: My Violence is Because of My Love

According to a research conducted by the Turkish Republic Prime Ministry Directorate General on the Status of Women in 2008, the most common type of violence encountered by women is violence inflicted on them by men with whom they have a romantic relationship. According to the same research, the violence committed by their lovers or spouses is more common than the risk of harassment or rape by an unknown person or an acquaintance. In this respect, it is particularly important to study the films which are about domestic violence or mention this subject in Turkish Cinema in order to analyse how the violence under consideration is interpreted by directors. The films which are considered to mention domestic violence in Turkish Cinema in the last ten years can be chronologically listed as: “İtiraf” Zeki Demirkubuz 2001 , “Gönül Yarası” Yavuz Turgul 2004 , “Banyo” Mustafa Altıoklar 2005 , “İki Çizgi” Selim Evci 2008 , “Vicdan” Erden Kıral 2008 , “Üç Maymun” Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2008 , “Sıcak” Abdullah Oğuz 2008 and “Geriye Kalan” Çiğdem Vitrinel 2011 . The purpose of this paper is to analyse which reasons are presented in these films as the source of violence committed by men in the domestic space and if this violence is justified by those films by the medium of politics of representation. The concept of honour killing is also included in the analysis since the female characters in two of these films, Gönül Yarası and Vicdan, are killed.