Women protesting the recent femicides in Turkey have been attacked by police in the capital city of Ankara. Fifteen protesters were detained, MA reports.
The protest was organised by the “Implement the Istanbul Convention” Ankara Campaign Group, in response to the murders of Azra Gülendam Haytaoğlu and Emine Gökkız in the southern provinces of Antalya and Maraş respectively.
Women were told by the police either to disperse or to face the consequences, and police officers tried to prevent journalists and other civilians from recording the scene.
JinNews reporter Sevim Sütçü’s identification document was taken from her with the threat that she would be detained if she continued to record. However, her ID was later returned to her.
Fifteen protesters who were detained were released late at night after giving statements to the police.
The Istanbul Convention, a human rights treaty of the Council of Europe against violence against women and domestic violence, was opened for signature on 11 May 2011 in Istanbul.
Turkey was among the signatories until 20 March 2021, when Turkish President Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan announced his country’s withdrawal by a presidential decree published at midnight.
The president’s move is seen on a very wide scale as a fait-accompli, but an unlawful one, since the the withdrawal decision was taken by a single man without the approval of the lawmakers.
According to the “We Will Stop Femicide” platform, 150 femicides and an additional 111 suspicious deaths of women were reported within the first seven months of 2021. The reported figures for the whole of 2020 were 300 femicides and 171 suspicious deaths of women.
