10 women, who reportedly participated in the 19th Feminist Night March organised in Istanbul on 8 March, were detained during raids to their home.
All of the women detained, reportedly to be at least 12 women, are expected to be brought in front of an Istanbul court during the day as their charging procedures were finalised in the police station, reported by Jin News.
Three members of the Women’s Committee were detained on grounds that they participated in the 19th Feminist Night March .
“When I am raped and murdered, there is no state, but when I want to walk on Istiklal Street, is there a state? We do not accept. We do not give up our insistence on Taksim! ” said the Women’s Committees in a post on Twitter announcing the detentions of their members.
“We have learned that 2 women amongst the 12 women detained were subjected to a strip searches. We will never accept this treatment,” said the Women’s Committees on Twitter.
Another youth organisation announced that a student named Sedef Özer was also detained during a raid on her home.
The Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD) Istanbul Bureau also announced that at least 10 women were detained during the raids to their homes
“Tayyip run run run” slogan considered a crime!
ÇHD were informed that the women were detained on charge of “insulting the President’.
“We examined the documents of the detained women, the accusation was that they insulted the president by shouting the slogans ‘Tayyip run run run, women are coming’ and ‘Jump, jump, who doesn’t jump is Tayyip'” said the feminist lawyers who follow the cases of the women detained.
Women launched a social media campaign with the hashtag #8MartaDokunma in protest against the detentions of the women.
Ironically, the raids and charges on the women come after the President, at the beginning of the month, promised an international and national audience that the launch of his government’s ‘Human Rights Action Plan’ would strengthen freedom of expression and organisation in the country. President Erdogan stated that “no one will be deprived of their freedom for expressing criticism or their thoughts” before an audience which included EU ambassadors. “Improving freedom of expression, organisation and religion … is the goal we have so far worked the hardest on”, he informed ministers and other government officials at the time.