Despite arrests, state restrictions and a heavy police presence, women in Turkey once again took to the streets on 8 March, making their voices heard in Istanbul, Diyarbakır (Amed), Izmir, Ankara and beyond. Police barricades also obstructed the Feminist Night March, a tradition for over two decades in Istanbul’s Taksim, but the women refused to be silenced. The slogan ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ (Woman, Life, Freedom) resonated across the country, underlining the intersection between feminist and Kurdish struggles.
International Women’s Day celebrations in Turkey have long served as a show of strength by feminist movements against systematic state repression. This year was no different. Thousands gathered for the 23rd Feminist Night March, where the police barricades blocked access to Istiklal Avenue. Women chanted, ‘We are not silent, we are not afraid, we do not obey!’ and refused to back down.
Meanwhile, security forces arrested dozens of protesters and forcibly dispersed others. Similar demonstrations took place in Izmir, Ankara and other cities, with feminist groups calling for an end to violence against women and government policies that undermine gender equality. These marches have continued for years despite the state’s efforts to suppress them, demonstrating that feminist resistance in Turkey remains strong.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has clamped down on women’s rights, from withdrawing Turkey from the Istanbul Convention to pushing through conservative family policies that restrict women’s freedoms. Over the past year, femicides have continued at an alarming rate and state institutions have been accused of failing to protect women from violence.
At the Feminist Night March, protesters bore banners condemning the government’s policies, with the messages, ‘We will not give up on the Istanbul Convention’ and ‘The state is complicit in femicides’. These slogans reflect the ongoing struggle against patriarchal state violence, a struggle that has only intensified in response to the government crackdown.
A striking aspect of this year’s 8 March protests was the widespread use of the slogan ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’. The slogan, originally rooted in the Kurdish women’s movement, has gained global resonance in recent years, particularly after the uprisings in Iran following the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini in 2022.
Women chanted the slogan in Diyarbakır and other Kurdish-majority cities, reinforcing its role as a unifying call for freedom. In Diyarbakır, thousands filled İstasyon Square, dancing in colourful traditional dress and bearing feminist and Kurdish language banners.
This year’s Women’s Day protests only go to reaffirm that the government’s attempts to suppress feminist movements in Turkey have failed, as women continue to occupy public spaces, demand their rights and resist growing authoritarianism. The widespread chanting of the ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ slogan, the mass participation despite police repression and the clear defiance of the AKP’s anti-women policies all point to one thing: women in Turkey are not backing down.
