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Anti-Femicide Protests Sweep Turkey

Dorian Jones

   INSTANBUL - A wave of protests sparked by the slaying of a young woman
   has been sweeping across Turkey as the government considers leaving an
   international convention that protects women against violence, despite
   warnings from rights groups about the rising number of killings of
   women.

   Last week, police found the strangled and battered body of 27-year-old
   university student Pinar Gultekin. Local media, citing police sources,
   said she was buried in a bin encased in concrete, in woodlands in the
   Aegean province of Mugla.

   Gultekin's killing triggered demonstrations across Istanbul and other
   cities with activists calling attention to reports of rising number of
   murdered women. At one protest last week in Istanbul's Kadikoy
   district, women chanted "we want to live," "end femicides."

   In the Aegean port city of Izmir, police broke up a women's protest and
   detained several demonstrators.

   Across social media, women placed videos of their protests. On
   Instagram, Turkish women are posting black and white images of
   themselves in protest at Gultekin's murder, in a campaign that has gone
   global.

   "From secular women to conservative women, from working women or not
   working, women are angry," said Melek Onder of the Istanbul based
   campaign group, "We Will Stop Femicide."

   "But we know that this anger makes women movement in Turkey becoming
   more powerful and strong," Onder added. "They are applying to our
   platform, saying we want to do something, we want to join the
   protests."

   The protests in Turkey come amidst wider international protests against
   violence against women, much of which is a grassroots organized through
   social media, including the "me too" movement.

   The "We Will Stop Femicide" web page records the grim death toll of
   murdered women, which rises nearly every day. In the first six months
   of this year, the group says there were 172 femicides, compared to 416
   for the whole of 2019.

   In a tweet, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned
   Gultekin's killing, but activists complain he has otherwise remained
   silent.

   The protests are happening as the Erdogan government faces new
   criticism over its commitment to gender issues.

   Erdogan's ruling AKP party is openly questioning Turkey's participation
   the international Istanbul Convention on protecting women against
   violence.

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