Hundreds of people marched against a plan to shut one of the country’s most recognized women’s rights organizations on Saturday in multiple Turkish cities, including Istanbul and Ankara.
“It is impossible to put an end to our struggle. We will not allow our association to be closed,” Fidan Ataselim, the secretary-general of We Will Stop Femicide, told AFP.
On Wednesday, an Istanbul prosecutor filed a complaint seeking to dissolve the organisation for “activities contrary to law and morals.”
The case, according to Ataselim, accuses the organization of violating Turkey’s “rules and morality.”
The organisation was outspoken in its opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision last year to withdraw Turkey from the Istanbul Convention, which mandates nations to enact legislation targeted at preventing and punishing violence against women.
According to We Will Stop Femicide, 280 women were murdered in Turkey last year, with the majority of the killings done by family members.
According to the organization, another 217 women died under dubious circumstances, including those who were officially documented as suicide.
Ataselim stated that the case was filed in response to a complaint lodged by a group of Turks via a website established by the presidency to handle citizen requests.
According to Ataselim, the lawsuit accused the organization of “devastating the family under the guise of protecting women’s rights.”
Erdogan used identical rhetoric in announcing Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, which Turkey ratified in 2011.
According to Turkey’s social conservatives, the gathering encourages homosexuality and undermines traditional family values.
“Prosecute murderers, not women!” Hundreds of Istanbul protestors chanted.
The event was attended by members of opposing parties as well as families of domestic violence victims.
“These ladies are a force to be reckoned with… “I wanted to come there to show my support,” said Nihat Palandoken, the father of a little girl who was murdered in 2017.
