77 LGBTI, Women’s Organizations Join Justice March

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The Justice March launched by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) from Ankara to İstanbul is on its 22nd day (July 6).

The march started from Dilova district in province of Kocaeli.

In a speech delivered, CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said:

“We are carrying out Turkey’s most peaceful demonstration. We continue to march the 450-km road without saying any bad language, by embracing everybody and applauding those who disagree with us. We sometimes witness provocations but we respond with applaud.

“Some circles tell us that ‘You march because we permit’. What does it mean that you permit? This is our constitutional right.

“We will hopefully be in Maltepe in İstanbul on Sunday. We will call on Turkey and the world. We will explain why we are holding this march and what we want”.

“We women want to march together for true justice, not male justice. Getting more violent with the State of Emergency especially in the recent period, the injustices and impunity policies have augmented male violence so much more. Women’s political gains are being seized and the women are being excluded from politics. Until we get the same rights and opportunities as men in every field of life; there is no justice if there is no equality”. (NV/TK)

Pippa Bacca

Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, known as Pippa Bacca, was an Italian artist who, together with a fellow artist, was hitchhiking from Milan to the Middle East to promote world peace under the motto, "marriage between different peoples and nations.

Bacca and her companion split up just prior to arriving in Istanbul, planning to meet up again in Beirut. However, Bacca disappeared after 31 March. Her credit card was reportedly used at noon of that day. Bacca's naked, strangled and decomposing body was found near some bushes in the town of Tavşanlı in mid-April. However, both the BBC and The New York Times report it as being near Gebze, about 40 miles southeast of Istanbul.

The man who led the police to her body, Murat Karataş, was detained and arrested after reportedly confessing to raping and strangling Bacca on 31 March after taking her in his Jeep from a gas station. DNA testing suggests, however, that Bacca was raped by multiple people, and not just Karataş. The suspect said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and could not remember what happened. (Source: Wikipedia)