Feminist Protests in Istanbul

On the night of September 24th, a group of very brave (and very loud) Turkish women of all ages and political denominations took the street to condemn the patriarchal government of Tayyip Erdogan.

They took the streets to protest the social-conservative policies of the AKP government which is eroding their human and women's rights, including access to abortion.

They took the streets to protest the illegal and intimidatory practice by the police to strip-search naked the women who are detained for taking part in the demonstrations.

They took the streets to refuse the traditional gender roles that would see them staying home, cooking, and having three babies (Erdogan has suggested that couples should have at least three babies).

They took the streets to protest the rape and sexual abuse suffered by women and carried out by the Police (a 16 year old girl was raped by six policemen in a police van after being arrested a week prior - not the sole incident). 

I don't often cite Amnesty International as I believe them to have a political agenda very tightly linked to that of imperialist nations. However, in a recent report they have released on the Gezi Park and related protests, substantial evidence was disclosed about the verbal and physical sexual harassment against women by law enforcement officers and the testimonies of (not the only) two victims. 

Being the ONLY man actually in the protest (except for the the mostly-male press that was filming and photographing and two guys following the protest from the sidewalk) felt strange, but very natural. It was also a very refreshing sight to see the residents of Kadiköy applaud the efforts of these women, and spontaneously joining the protest which grew from about 120 to 200 people as we marched through the Moda district.

They stopped traffic on the busiest road of Kadiköy and towards the end, the situation got very tense when the women confronted the police face to face screaming "Katil Polis!" (Police, assassins!). The Press placed itself between the police and the protesters as a buffer to protect the women from eventual attack by the "law enforcement" officers, which luckily never came.

Erdogan has seriously chosen the wrong generation and the wrong women to fuck with.