Activists in Turkey call for 'uprising' after brutal murder of female student

The violent murder of a young female student has sparked a wave of protest in Turkey, where activists are calling for politicians to do more to stop violence against women.

The burned body of Ozgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old psychology student, was found in a riverbed in Turkey’s southern district of Mersin on 13 February.

An autopsy showed that she had been stabbed to death and hit with an iron bar.

Aslan’s family had reported her missing on 11 February, when she was last seen in a minibus by a friend who was travelling with her.

Police later arrested three suspects, including a 26-year-old minibus driver and his 50-year-old father.

A friend of the minibus driver, known in the Turkish media as FG, was also arrested, telling police that the driver had attempted to rape Aslan after all the other passengers disembarked.

According to FG’s testimony, Aslan used a pepper spray to stop the attack – the driver then stabbed her several times and beat her with an iron pipe, Turkish daily Hurriyet reports.

The attacker reportedly asked his father and FG to help him dispose of the body – police believe the trio then burned Aslan’s body in an attempt to hide the evidence.

The gruesome murder has sparked mass protests in Turkey, where activists say the crime sheds light on a culture of inaction surrounding violence against women.

Thousands of people attended Aslan’s funeral on Saturday in her hometown of Mersin.

A group of women carried the green coffin to be buried, despite a request from the prayer leader that women stay back during the ceremony.

The mayor of Mersin, Burhanettin Kocamaz, attended the funeral and warned that violence against women is a widespread phenomenon in Turkey.

“Values in our society have fallen to a low level; we are living in a time when women are murdered every day,” Kocamaz said in a short speech at the funeral.

“The whole society, most notably our leaders, should reconsider their stance”.

President Erdogan’s two daughters Sumeyye and Esra Albayrak, accompanied by Sare Aydin Yilmaz, president of the Women and Democracy Association, paid a visit on Sunday to Aslan's family.

"May God give you patience," Esra Albayrak told Aslan's mother. 

"We will always stand by you," Sumeyye said.

"It is a very terrible situation," Sumeyye said following the visit. "We’ve come here in order to be able to share their sorrow. Our actual aim is for those murderers to be punished in an effective way."

President Erdogan and his wife Emine phoned Aslan's family on Saturday, expressed their condolences and condemned the murder.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also phoned the family and said that "everything will be done to appropriately punish the murderers in this vicious attack."

However, many activists have called on politicians to do more to end what they say is “years” of inaction to combat violence against women.

Gulsam Sav, of the campaign group We Will Stop the Murder of Women, said during a march in Istanbul on Saturday that politicians have not taken the necessary steps to stamp out violence against women.

"The killing of women is not a natural disaster. Politicians must condemn the killings, and the punishments should be increased.

"These are not difficult things to do, but politicians have avoided them for years."

Rallies across Turkey in wake of murder

Protests, many of which were attended by large numbers of riot police, were also held on Saturday in Mersin as well as the capital Ankara - in Istanbul graffiti appeared on a wall reading “Rape is a crime against humanity: We will not forget Ozgecan.”

Hundreds of protesters filled Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square on Saturday night holding up banners reading “Ozgecan Aslan is our uprising.”

Five women were arrested in Taksim Square on Sunday after unfurling a banner bearing the same slogan.

Demonstrators at rallies across Turkey on Saturday called for the resignation of Aysenur Islam, the Minister for Family and Social Policies - over 20 rallies are scheduled to take place around the country on Sunday.

You Tell It Too hashtag takes off

Public anger surrounding Aslan’s murder has thrown the spotlight on violence against women in Turkey, where women’s rights activist Yasemin Yucel estimates that five women are killed every day.

Women and people from the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] communities have been sharing experiences of sexual harassment and violence using the hashtag Sendeanlat, which translates as You Tell It Too.

The hashtag was the most popular phrase on Turkish Twitter on Sunday, with thousands of people using the handle to speak publicly about their experiences of harassment.

Translation: Crossing to the other side of the street when you see a group of men approaching #YouTellItToo

Translation: Getting filthy Facebook messages from strangers is just the beginning #YouTellItToo

Turkish DJ and music blogger Artemis Gunebakanli, who has shared her own experiences using the hashtag, told MEE on Sunday that "thousands and thousands of stories" are being shared.

"Women are sharing their stories of verbal, physical, sexual and psychological harrassment.

"Different kinds of abuse are an everyday thing for most women in Turkey.

"But the stories we are sharing show us that we are not alone, and provoke a little spark of courage."