WUNRN
Global Fund for Women
TURKEY - FIRSTHAND WOMEN'S ACCOUNT
OF VIOLENCE IN ISTANBUL
Police
unleashed tear gas and water cannons on a crowd of almost 5,000 people in
Taksim Square Tuesday night, according to Deniz Nihan Aktan of Istanbul
Feminist Collective and Global Fund for Women grantee partner, Filmmor.
Speaking to
Global Fund for Women from her house near
The
demonstrations began over a plan to tear out the last green space in the center
of the city,
Deniz
and her feminist colleagues organized in the park to take a public stance for women’s
human rights. The group voiced their opposition to the government’s
attempts to ban abortion, political violence against the LGBT
community and the rising
rates of violence against women.
Filmmor's
“We put up a tent
in the park to claim our voice amongst the crowd, and we conveyed our demands
in a legal way,” said Deniz.
Deniz’s voice
cracked over the phone as she recounted her experience. It was 3:00 a.m. in
What should have
been a peaceful protest, a solidarity movement among environmentalists, left
wing activists, regular citizens, women’s and LGBT rights advocates, was met
with escalating police brutality.
“He [Erdogan] is
more concerned with holding onto his power than he is for the rights of his
people,” said Deniz. “What they [the government] are doing is illogical and
illegal.”