In Turkey, the act of seeking a divorce has become a life-threatening defiance. Statistics cited by IKWRO highlight that over 400 women were killed in a single year, with the vast majority targeted simply for wanting to leave their husbands. The film follows survivors like and Kubra , who endured catastrophic physical violence after requesting separations, personifying the "perfect storm" created when women's demands for equality clash with deeply entrenched masculinist restoration. Legal and Political Failures
A central theme of the documentary is the erosion of democratic freedoms and its direct impact on women’s safety. The narrative explores how: Dying to Divorce
The documentary (2021), directed by Chloe Fairweather , serves as a harrowing expose on the systemic crisis of femicide and domestic violence in Turkey. Through the lens of activist lawyer Ipek Bozkurt , the film illustrates a society where women’s rising aspirations for independence—most notably the desire to divorce—are met with lethal resistance from men and a legal system that frequently enables them. The Deadly Price of Autonomy In Turkey, the act of seeking a divorce
Critically acclaimed by outlets like The Guardian and Variety , transcends being a mere legal drama. It acts as an educational tool for an international audience, exposing the gap between official policies that nominally promote equality and the brutal reality of a state that remains socially conservative and structurally skewed against women. By documenting the "great rehearsal of public politics" through private tragedy, Fairweather’s film underscores that the right to divorce is, for many, a fundamental fight for the right to live. Legal and Political Failures A central theme of