Women celebrate Women’s Day across Turkey

ISTANBUL

A woman hammers a plaque holding names of 1,169 women that have been killed since 2008 on the wall established for commorating the killed women. DHA Photo

International Women’s Day was celebrated in various cities around Turkey, with protests over violence against women being the common theme of events across the country.

A cortege of political parties, labor unions, trade bodies and women’s groups marched the Kadıköy district on Istanbul’s Asian side, chanting slogans of solidarity and holding banners. Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Chair Pervin Buldan was present at the rally, wearing colorful clothes.

Women holding pictures of slain women subjected to male violence protested the killings of women and the government’s policies towards women.

Apart from male members of the press, no men were allowed to enter the meeting area in Kadıköy. Many watched the events behind a security line where some danced traditional dances outside the square. 

Özgecan Aslan, who was brutally murdered in the southern Turkish province of Mersin in early February, was also remembered in the mass rallies.

Istanbul University Bicycle Club members, in cooperation with the Beşiktaş Municipality, crossed the Bosphorus Bridge with their bikes, cycling for the safety of women in traffic.

Beşiktaş Mayor Murat Haznedar also accompanied the event with his bicycle, and said participants attended the event for all women in Turkey and for Özgecan Aslan.

Meanwhile in Ankara, thousands of women from various NGO’s gathered at a central park, from where they marched carrying banners and calling on all to rise up against violence against women.

In the Aegean city of İzmir, a choir of 8,000 women sang folk songs, while 5,000 women wearing traditional dancing dresses in the southern city of Antalya joined the İzmir meeting via live video link.