Women in Ankara rally for Mutlu Kaya

2015-05-23 11:20:25

ANKARA (DİHA) - Women in the Turkish capital of Ankara held a demonstration of support for 19-year-old Kurdish singer Mutlu Kaya, shot in her home on Monday, and called on all women to develop self-defense tactics against male violence.

Mutlu Kaya, 19, is currently in intensive care in a Diyarbakır hospital for a gunshot wound to the head. Turkish courts have charged Veysi Ercan, who charges say planned to kidnap her from her home that night, in her death. Women's groups have said that whoever attempted to kill Mutlu Kaya, her struggle is the struggle of women against male violence.In the last four months, men have killed 100 women in Turkey in an ongoing epidemic of femicides.

Last night, women's groups in the Turkish capital of Ankara gathered to issue a press release on the main Yüksel Avenue, with the attendance of Kaya's elder sister Özlem Akın and a performance by the Rosa Women's Chorus. Women chanted slogans in support of Kaya and women's solidarity. Ayla Yılmaz, of the group AKA-DER, spoke on behalf of the women's groups. She noted that male violence against women was everywhere in the country—east or west, village or city—and was enabled by the policies and discourse of the ruling AKP.

Yılmaz called on all women to organize and develop self-defense mechanisms to fight back against male violence.

(nt)