No woman is alone (17.2.2015)

The Women’s Movement of POGO, a member of the Women’s International  Democratic Federation,  expresses its solidarity to the struggle waged by women in Turkey after the recent murder of the 20-year student Özgecan Aslan.

Having embarked on a bus in Mersin, Turkey, Özgecan Aslan was murdered by the bus driver. The man tried to rape her and when she resisted he then stabbed repeatedly, hit her on the head and then doused her with gasoline and burned her.

Incidences of gender violence, sexual abuse and rape resulting in killings are on the rise in Turkey in recent years.

How can we expect the State to defend the health and safety of women? How can we expect initiatives to be taken, for fundamental changes to the issue of equality between men and women, when the Turkish Prime Minister himself, publicly, stated that the two genders cannot be treated on an equal footing. When the Imam himself urged women not to approach the coffin and stay at the rear of the procession. But Turkish women, defying his warnings, lifted the coffin of Özgecan Aslan demanding for justice and for a fight against the violence against women.

The Women’s Movement of POGO declares that no woman is alone in the fight to end this scourge. Together, the women of the world,  we defy the danger, we organize and continue our struggle.