Women Mark Years of Struggle Against Violence

Dozens of activists met in Kadıkoy this weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of the first womens march against domestic violence. They noted that violence and discrimination against women are still widespread and their struggle would continue.

İstanbul

Women's rights activists met in Kadıkoy, Istanbul this weekend, on the 20th anniversary of the "March Against Domestic Violence".

They once again protested violence towards women, carrying placards, which read "End Male Violence", "End abuse, rape, violence towards women", "No to men who love their mothers and beat their wives".

Mor Çatı Women's Shelter Foundation chair Cana Arın remarked:

"Women face challenges and are discriminated against in every aspect of daily life. Legislative reforms, campaigns are not enough. We want to reveal the basic causes of violence and rend them void".

Filiz Kerestecioğlu added that the first women's march against violence was after the 1980 military coup and she recalled how her song titled "Women Exist" was met with popular interest at the time.

The march in 1987 was a first for the feminist movement in Turkey.

It was initiated as a reaction to a court ruling, where a judge officially wrote in a ruling "one shouldn't keep the stick from women's back and a baby from her belly", a traditional saying degrading women.(AÖ/EÜ)