In the Artuklu district of Mardin (Mêrdîn), the Şahmaran Women’s Platform came together to protest femicides. The women got together in front of the Chamber of Civil Engineers and wanted to walk to the Highways Park. However, they were blocked by the police with barricades. The women marched toward the barricade chanting slogans such as “Jin jiyan azadî”, “Self-defense is a right, it cannot be prosecuted”, “Men are killing, the state is protecting”.
The women kept defying the barricades and demanded that they be removed. Police reinforcements were sent, but as a result of the women’s persistent resistance, the police had to eventually withdraw the barricade.
The women who broke through the barricade walked to the street and instead of making a statement to protest the police’s attitude, they held a sit-in protest and closed the road to traffic. The women left their banners in the middle of the street while they sat in protest. Shopkeepers and citizens came out of their workplaces in the area supporting the women with applause and whistles.
Platform member Gülizar İpek Bilek voiced the demands of the women, and underlined that women and children were being killed on an almost daily basis. She said that Turkey had become a children’s cemetery. Bilek added: “We are shouting from here once more: women will never give up our struggle. You are reflecting the misogynist policies of this government. We will never accept this. We will continue to struggle and crown our lives with the philosophy of Jin, Jiyan, Azadî. We, women, will weave a life without violence. 3 to 5 women are killed every day. We call this femicide. We fill the squares against femicide. Women will break all the barricades.”
Bilek continued: “We will struggle against the male mentality, against impunity policies, until the Istanbul Convention is reinstated. We will continue to fight until Law No. 6284 is implemented. We will not give up on women’s right to life.”
On 4 October, the killing of two 19-year-old women by a man of the same age sparked protests across Turkey and North Kurdistan. According to the news compiled by bianet from local and national newspapers, news websites and agencies, men killed at least 33 women and one child in September.
