Özgecan Aslan Commemorated With Flowers
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"There is nothing left to say. Words don't have meaning. May the all murdered girls rest in heaven."
Özgecan Aslan's father Mehmet Aslan said these words at the Mersin City Cemetery yesterday (February 11).
Özgecan Aslan was killed after being subjected to a sexual assault on February 11, 2015 in Tarsus district of Mersin. Aslan's family and friends commemorated her on the fourth anniversary of her murder.
"There is nothing left to say"
After leaving flowers on her daughter's grave, Mehmetcan Aslan said:
"We see on television, a woman is violently killed by her mother, father, fiance, husband, friend. To prevent this, this must be accepted as a serious problem, a broad consensus and a great council should be established and this problem should be addressed as a multidimensional issue.
"There is nothing left to say. Words don't have meaning. May the all murdered girls rest in heaven."
Women in İstanbul: "Don't acquit men"
Women from the "We Want to Live Initiative", who gather on the 11th of every month in protests called "We want to live," held their 38th demonstration on Khalkedon Square in Kadıköy, İstanbul.
Ezgi Bahçeci from the group read a press statement:
"On this square, we have been asking for 38 months, 'Why are the murderers' sentences still being reduced while women get murdered, harassed or raped every day? Why is the Law No. 6284 not implemented? Why is the judiciary continuing to defend men rather than women in court halls?'
"Nothing can be a reason or excuse for women getting killed, harassed, raped, subjected to violence. Taking away women's right to live, blaming murdered women and trying to acquit men are neither fit into law nor conscience."
What happened?On February 11, 2015, in Mersin province, minibus driver Ahmet Suphi Altındöken (26) tried to rape passenger Özgecan Aslan in his minibus. Upon resistance of Aslan, Altındöken killed the woman with the help of his father Necmettin Altındöken (50) and his friend Fatih Gökçe. (20). He then burned the dead body of the deceased in an isolated area after cutting Aslan's hands off in order not to leave DNA sample. The prosecutor Ayhan Akyol demanded aggravated life imprisonment for the three murder suspects for "monstrously torturing to death, attempting to qualified sexual assault and taking the right to life away by sexual intercourse". On December 3, 2015, all three suspects were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for murder. Ahmet Suphi Altındöken and his father Necmettin Altındöken were shot in the prison. Suphi Altındöken also lost his life. The rape and murder of Özgecan Aslan found wide coverage in the media and sparked strong reactions among the feminist activists. It became one of the symbol cases of male violence which helped drawing attention to the issue of penalty abatement in femicide cases. |
(EMK/VK)
*Photos: JinNews, ETHA