Women Rally Against Violence in Istanbul

Thousands of women gathered in several Turkish cities campaigned against the government's new policies on Sunday, the International Day for the elimination of violence against women. In Istanbul, the protests took place in Taksim Square with a statement announced in Turkish and Kurdish and slogans like "Protect women first, not the family", "Jin, jiyan, azadi", "Our honor is ours", "Prevent rapes, not abortion".

The bilingual statement criticized the latest women rights abuses including release of rape suspects, reduced sentences on women murders, incapacity of women refuge houses, rejected abortion request on the legal limit, political abuses on Kurdish women and discrimination against trans women.

"We are against all kinds of policies and discourses that feed the violence against women in Turkey. We are in solidarity against the violence that Turkish men and state are exercising on women in Turkey," the statement said.

Many onlookers walked past the protesters in Istiklal Avenue, some joining the slogans and others running away or complaining that men were always demonized.

Women activists told bianet about their struggles:

Filiz Karakuş: we were hoping that the new law proposed by Family and Social Policies Ministry would protect women's rights. However, the ministry prioritized family on women and the amendments improving women's rights were removed from the draft proposal.

The government also tried to ban abortions in Turkey, but they had to yield their efforts due to our protests. Now they are trying to make divorces harder, as a part of their family preservation policies. We are opposing this attempt because it will only deepen the inequalities between men and women. Women also exist outside families.

Hediye Aydın: we are struggling against the male violence. But as a Kurdish woman, I also struggle against the police and state violence. They are denying our identity. Kurdish women suffer more than Kurdish men. (ÇT)