Women to take to streets for right to life
ISTANBUL (DİHA) - Özgecan Aslan, whose body was burnt after rape, has been laid to rest today.
Özgecan Aslan, whose body was burnt after being brutally murdered, has been laid to rest today. Özgecan Aslan was a first year psychology student at the Çağ University and her burnt body was discovered on Feb. 13 in a riverbed in Tarsus district of the southern province of Mersin. She was raped by three men before being murdered.
While the murder of Aslan created anger among women in Turkey and protest actions are being prepared in many cities, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Women’s Assembly has issued a statement condemning the murder of women that has increased by 1,400 % in Turkey under the AKP rule. The HDP Women’s Assembly recalled in the statement that Özgecan was first raped by the driver of the bus she took to from Tarsus to Mersin, his son and a friend of his, saying: “We do not want these men to be punished for 1-2 years in prison, but we want them to be sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment”, referring to the short sentences given to men who murdered women in Turkey.
The HDP Women’s Assembly stressed that women in Turkey do not even have the freedom of movement with security of life, vowing that women will not allow the violation of their right to life. The Women’s Assembly further stressed that women can no more tolerate another woman being raped and murdered, and called on all women to react strongly to the outrageous murder of Özgecan. HDP Women’s Assembly members first visited Özgecan’s family this morning to attend the funeral that started at 12:00 in Mersin and was attended by lots of women from other cities also.
In the meantime, women in other cities in Turkey, primarily in Istanbul, are preparing to take to the streets in protest at the murder of women and to demand justice for Özgecan. While the HDP Women’s Coordination is organising a protest action at Galatasaray Square, the feminist platform Group for Emergency Measures against Murders of Women will hold a march in Kadiköy in the evening set to start at 19:00. Adana Women’s Platform will also stage a march at 17:30 starting from the 5 January Square.
There is also a campaign ongoing on social media condemning the murder of Özgecan under the hashtag #ÖzgecanAslan on Twitter.
(nt)
