Ronda Bat and Sultan Taş, two Kurdish women activists from the Youth Assembly of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were kidnapped on 2 February in the middle of the day in Ankara, Turkey’s capital. They were released after a forced car ride lasting approximately half an hour. They were subjected to harassment and threats whilst in the cars.
The two women activists described their experience of forced kidnapping to JinNews. After both women left the metro station on 2 February at around 3 pm in the Bahçelievler district, a central and crowded area in Ankara, two vehicles stopped alongside the pavement they were on. Six people emerged from the cars. They introduced themselves as the invisibles and one of them told Bat and Taş that both of them had detention warrants against them. The men identified themselves as the police and tried to force them into their cars after the women asked if they had an official warrant.
“We are being kidnapped”, the two women screamed as the men attempted to kidnap them. “With our voices heard, shopkeepers came out of their shops to help us. After several minutes of dispute, finally the men started hitting us and forced both of us into two different cars”, said Ronda Bat.
Bat and Taş were forcibly pushed into the two separate cars and they were released after approximately half an hour’s ride in two separate places, which they described as “nearby a very isolated road, where almost no cars pass by”.
