Violence escalates.. Turkey detains more than 20 women during Women’s Day events

Women in Turkey are enduring bitter hardships, ceaseless crises, and grave violations at home, outside and in the streets under the auspices of the regime. Women in prisons and detention centers, which are inhabited by thousands of women and children who have been unjustly admitted, place Turkey among the most violent countries for women.

Among the latest violence against women in Turkey, police arrested more than 20 women in early morning raids Thursday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, Turkey’s Geo News reported.

The Turkish website added: that among those arrested were politicians, trade unionists and women’s rights defenders, saying: The Diyarbakir Public Prosecutor issued arrest warrants for 24 women.

Among those arrested were Velez Bulutkin, former co-chairman of the Sur municipality in Diyarbakir, who was replaced by a government-appointed secretary, Fatemeh Yildijan, secretary of the Union of Health and Social Services Workers in Diyarbakir, and Ramzi Sesige, co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party in the province’s Yeni Shahr region, according to media reports.

The Turkish news website Bianet, quoting local sources, revealed that the women were arrested for their activities during the International Women’s Day events on March 8.

Governors of Turkish cities including Istanbul have banned protests or marches to mark International Women’s Day.

Violence against women and femicide remain serious problems in the country, Turkish news website Ahval reported. The media cover the issue on a daily basis and the number of cases has prompted citizens to put increased pressure on the government to address the issue.

Meanwhile, the women’s branch of the Peoples’ Democratic Party said in a post on social media that the police operation will not stop women from marching for their rights, stressing that: “You can’t prevent our struggle with stress”.

Public meetings, International Women’s Day protests and other events have been suppressed by the Turkish authorities since nationwide demonstrations against the government in 2013; Turkey ranks 69th out of 162 countries in the UN Gender Inequality Index and 130th in the Global Gender Gap.

Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his country’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on Women’s Rights, a move that drew strong criticism from Turkey’s Western allies and led to nationwide protests.

According to a report published last week by Candan Uger, a deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party, at least 278 women have been killed and 235 women have doubtfully lost their lives since Turkey’s withdrawal from the international treaty, while the total number of women killed by men in the past 20 years, since Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party came to power in 2002, has reached at least 7,990.