March 8 in Turkey: Women Take to Streets, Protest Male Violence, War

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Thousands of women from throughout the country took to the streets on March 8 International Women's Day, protesting male violence, war, economic crisis, and inequality.

In İstanbul, women gathered near Beşiktaş Pier in Kadıköy on the Asian side of the city, upon a call by March 8 Women's Platform. Hundreds of women showed banners and chanted slogans: "We are in rebellion against the crisis and violence. We are standing all over the world."

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İstanbul (Photo: Evrensel)

In the capital Ankara, hundreds of women marched through Sakarya Street near the city's central Kızılay Square, chanting, "We don't be quiet, we don't obey." Reading out the names of the women who were killed due to male violence, women said, "We are in rebellion."

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Although the police didn't intervene in the demonstration, they didn't allow a march through Ziya Gökalp street, which heads to Kızılay Square, and directed the women to Sağlık Street.

Ankara (Photo: Evrensel)

In the Kurdish-majority Diyarbakır city in the southeast, a rally was organized by the Free Women's Movement (TJA) and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Women's Assembly on İstasyon Square.

On the rally, women showed banners that read, "Feminicides, harassment and rapes are political," "We are resisting for the truth and justice," "We defend ecological life for the freedom of nature and women."

Ululating and performing "halay" dance, women chanted "Women, life, freedom" (jin jîyan azadi) in Kurdish.

Photo: ortadogunews.com

In Dersim, another Kurdish-majority city in the southeast, women gathered upon a call by the Dersim Women's Platform. They asked what happened to Gülistan Doku, a university student who went missing on January 5 has not been found since then.

Dersim (Photo: Pir News Agency)

In the eastern Van province, women gathered at a wedding hall because of the more than a thousand-day-long ban on demonstrations in the city. HDP Women's Assembly Spokesperson Ayşe Acar Başaran, Van MP Muazzez Orhan and hundreds of women attended the event under the slogan, "We are organizing the resistance, marching towards freedom."

In the western İzmir province, women gathered on Alsancak Square against "war, crisis, violence and exploitation" upon a call by the İzmir Women's Platform.

Photo: Gönül İlhan

In the southern province of Adana, women gathered on Uğur Mumcu Square, chanting slogans against war and the military operations in Syria. (RT/VK)

Sources: Gazete Duvar, Evrensel and Pir News Agency