Women take streets, call for self-defence
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 Istanbul, Ankara, Mersin, Adana, Van, Aydın, Mardin's Derik and Nusaybin districts, Siirt and Ağrı held press conferences and massive marches 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.
'Rape is a crime against humanity, don’t be part of it'
Holding the state and its policies responsible for the increasingly ongoing femicide across country, women demanded urgent justice for Özgecan and all other victims of male violence. The women came together, holding placards reading: “Rape is a crime against humanity, don’t be part of it. Özgecan is immortal”. Women on the marches carried placards reading: “Destruct this system that creates rapist from a baby”, “Murdering women is in the nature of this system”, as well as frequently chanting the slogans “Justice for Özgecan”, “Women, Life, Freedom” and “Stop the murder of women”.
Call for self-defense
Actions for Özgecan went on today with thousands of women across Turkey taking to the streets. Women protested at the ruling AKP's anti-woman statements, ranging from Erdoğan's remark "I don't believe in women's equality," to AKP MP Ayhan Sefer Üstün's statement that "the rapist is more innocent than the rape victim who gets an abortion." Protestors denounced the systematic violence against women represented by the murder and called for self-defense against male violence.
(nt)
