Tens of thousands of women rally for Özgecan
NEWS CENTER (DİHA) - People in North Kurdistan and Turkey protest the murder of Özgecan which has caused countrywide reaction against the government's policies and practices that justify perpetrators of violence against women.
Non-governmental organizations and women's associations in Ergani, Nusaybin, Mersin, Siirt, Hakkari, Yüksekova, Doğubayazıt and Muş held press conferences condemning the brutal murder of 20-year-old university student Özgecan Aslan in Tarsus district of southern province of Mersin. Demonstrators demanded that necessary legal arrangements for the punishment of those responsible be made and the perpetrators be subjected to severest punishment.
Reading the press release on behalf of the demonstrators, Lawyer Serpil Yiğit Erkuş, Coordinator of the Consultation and Advise Center for Women's Rights affiliated to Diyarbakır Bar Association, pointed out that with the murder of Özgecan the history of humanity has once again witnessed the extend of human savageness. Erkuş called attention to the increasing rate of femicide in Turkey which -she said- was a consequence of gendered and male-dominant policies and laws as well as of the unsatisfactory punishments for the perpetrators.
'Rape is a crime against humanity'
Following the press conference, demonstrators hanged photographs of Özgecan Aslan, black ribbons and banners reading "Rape is a crime against humanity. Do not remain silent on the murder of Özgecan" on minibuses. Tens of thousands of women also gathered in the province of Hakkari to protest the murder of Özgecan which has caused countrywide reaction against the government's policies and practices that justify perpetrators of violence against women.
Holding the state and its policies responsible for the increasingly ongoing femicide across country, demonstrators demanded urgent justice for Özgecan and all other victims of male violence.
(nt)
