Working women shoulder to shoulder across Turkey: 'It is not women, but this system that will be defeated!'

Hazal GÜVEN / 12punto

In its March 8 statement, which addressed the government's declaration of 2025 as the year of the family, the Women's Solidarity Committees (KDK) announced that they would take their objections to the streets with the call: "The system that declared 2025 the 'Year of the Family' has once again defined the space for women's existence at the very beginning of the year. Moreover, they have declared everyone who objects to this an enemy of the family. They think they can defeat women. Come, let us show everyone together who will be defeated on March 8."

The meeting in Istanbul was held at Mehmet Ayvalıtaş Park in Kadıköy. The enthusiastic gathering, attended by hundreds of people, began with an opening speech. Those who gathered at the call of the KDK were greeted with the words: "Welcome, all you women who want to tear down this system by turning March 8 into a day of struggle!"

Following the speech, artist Gülcan Altan performed her songs. Hundreds of people attending the meeting accompanied Altan's songs in unison.

Following the slogans "Women stand up, to tear down this system!" and "Patriarchal boss system!" rising from Mehmet Ayvalıtaş Park, the first speech was delivered by a healthcare worker.

The background of the 'Year of the Family': 'The system needs new slaves to exploit!'

Starting her speech by addressing the declaration of 2025 as the year of the family, the healthcare worker said, "What was their goal? Was it to emphasize and strengthen a loving family environment? No. They see us as incubators. They want us to give birth to plenty of children. Why? Because birth rates have decreased more than ever before. This system needs new slaves to exploit. The current slaves were aging, and the laborers were already a burden on their backs. The truth is, the task is both to work for this system and to give birth to children to be exploited, and to be exploited oneself," she said.

'The first and most urgent demand of female healthcare workers is the right to childcare'

Discussing working conditions in the healthcare sector and the difficulties of working as a woman in this field, the worker described the grim situation in Turkey by giving examples of the working and living conditions of women in socialist Cuba: "After we become mothers, we are forced to work actively in the field as early as the 8th week, before our stitches have fully healed and before we have even established a bond and feeding routine with our baby. We object to the fact that the right to paid leave is regulated without any knowledge of women's and infant physiology. Yet, in Cuba, a tiny island, the duration of paid maternity leave is a full year. The first and most urgent demand of female healthcare workers is the right to childcare.

When there are no childcare centers, all working laborers are forced to leave their children to religious sects and Quran courses nestled in poor neighborhoods. The right to childcare is our most important need today, not just to work, but to protect our children and our children's minds."

'The culprit of violence in healthcare is marketization'

"Another problem we face, and unfortunately the most vital one, is our safety. Just as this system tries to blame violence against women on men, it tries to get rid of the responsibility for violence in hospitals by blaming it on patients' relatives. However, there is only one culprit for this problem: marketization in healthcare.

In the shadow of marketization, neither public health, nor professional honor, nor scientificity remains. What remains is actually a huge racket. In this racket, there is greed for profit, a performance system, referrals to private hospitals, baby-killer gangs, and those who bargain with patients on the operating table! In other words, there is rot from top to bottom. On the other side, there are us, the isolated laborers. We are not condemned to this, and in fact, we are not alone; look, we are all here together. To change all this, we just need to act together!"

Artist Senan Kara: We will continue to fight for bright days

Following the healthcare worker's speech, theater artist Senan Kara took the floor. Reciting a section from Nâzım Hikmet's "Epic of the War of Independence," Kara said in her subsequent speech: "Our struggle as women to exist has been going on for centuries. The struggle waged by Afife Jale was never in vain. We are on stages today thanks to the struggle of pioneering women like her. We are going through days when our people feel hopeless. We know that no struggle waged is in vain. We do not lose our hope. Because today, here and in many parts of the country, we are together as those who say we have an objection to darkness, tyranny, exploitation, and violence. And when we are together, we are much stronger than them. We will never drop that flag. We will continue to fight for bright days."

Müjde Tozbey, President of the Association of Children and Women First: Instead of protecting women, they are trying to gift us the year of the family

Speaking after Kara, Müjde Tozbey, President of the Association of Children and Women First, began her words by saying, "I brought the greetings of women and children who are not protected by anyone but who do not bow down despite this," and continued by emphasizing that March 8 is also a day of struggle.

Tozbey said, "Today is not just a day of celebration, it is a day of struggle. This struggle is rooted in socialism. It was declared in 1910 together with Clara Zetkin and her comrades. When they declared it, this struggle was based on the women workers' strikes in New York in 1857. And that is how they declared March 8. But our struggle as women has not ended. It still continues in our country. To protect and continue our gains."

Stating that 396 women were murdered in Turkey in 2024, and 67 women were murdered in January and February of 2025, and that the deaths of 256 women in 2024 were "declared as suicides," Müjde Tozbey said, "Seventy-one percent of the murdered women were killed within the family. But state apparatuses are still trying to gift us the year of the family instead of protecting women who are exposed to violence."

2025 declared the year of the family: 'What they want is to imprison us women at home'

Tozbey said the following regarding the declaration of 2025 as the year of the family by the government:

"Yes, they declared 2025 as the year of the family. While the Ministry of Family and Social Services was declaring this year, it did not mention this at all. They did not talk about what they would do for women who are exposed to violence and rape. They listed items. Among those items, they said that a discount would be applied when you buy tickets as a family from an airline company. Or they said that when you go as a family to buy diamonds or emeralds from a famous jeweler, we will apply a discount to you too.

Well, what will happen to the women who are murdered and raped? What kind of policy do you have? Did they make any statement? Of course not. We see this in the year of the family: What they want is to imprison us women at home. But they forget the most important thing in Turkey. We women are the greatest opposition force. The power of us women. They will never be able to crush this."

Down with your system, long live women!

As Müjde Tozbey ended her speech by saying, "As the Association of Children and Women First, we will never be silent, shoulder to shoulder with you. We will not give up, we will not bow down. March 8 is our day," hundreds of people shouted the slogan "Down with your system, long live women" in unison.

Following Tozbey, TKP Central Committee Member and Women's Solidarity Committees Official Senem Doruk İnam took the floor. Senem Doruk İnam began her words by saying, "My sisters, women who come from all over Istanbul, who grow the struggle with their minds and hearts, I greet you on March 8, International Working Women's Day, with the most revolutionary feelings, with the most solidarity-filled feelings of the militant women, the resilient women, the courageous women who left March 8 to us as a legacy. Welcome. Greetings to the militant women."

KDK Official Senem Doruk İnam: They derive their power from our being alone. Are you with us to show them?

Continuing her speech by saying, "We all experience the same problems. We experience the same darkness under the same sky. We are here today to object to this darkness. Welcome," she continued as follows:

"My sisters, we are poor. We are getting poorer every day. While we struggle with hunger and poverty, while we think about how to bring bread to our homes, while we worry about how to fill our children's lunchboxes, the bosses who seize the wealth of this country continue to fill their coffers. We work, we cannot get the reward for our labor.

We strive, our labor is seen as worthless. We are precarious anyway, right? That's why they put us out the door first. Then, are you looking for a job? They ask you first whether you will give birth to children or not. While they scream at the top of their lungs to have three children on one hand, they do not hire you for fear that you will get pregnant on the other. They derive their power from this government, from this reign they have established. They leave us alone with tyranny. They leave us face to face with constant pressure in workplaces. Do you know why? Because they derive their power from our being alone. We will show our power together. We will show our struggle together. We will show our solidarity together. Are you with us on this path, sisters? Are you with us to show them?"

'They became deaf and blind while women were screaming that we want to live. But they did not stay silent.'

"My sisters, they created such a country that they stole our lives and our future. They also stole our children's future. They left no school to go to, no park to go to safely. The monsters they created plunged knives into our hearts. This despicable system, this government wants to erase us women. They became deaf and blind while women were screaming that we want to live. But they did not stay silent. They spoke in such a way, so shamelessly, so brazenly.

They said, 'We issued a protection order, but they were murdered because they opened the door,' they said. They said this without shame. When our sister, who went out to collect scrap at the crack of dawn so that a morsel of bread could enter her children's throats, had her five children burn to death, what did they say? They said, 'If she were a mother, she wouldn't have left the children,' they said. Shame on them, shame. They were not ashamed, they were not ashamed, they continued to speak. With their lawlessness, their laws, and the sentence reductions they gave, they gave courage to the murderers.

Then they declared the year of the family for women who were murdered by their husbands, fathers, and brothers in their own homes. We will not forget this impudence, this shamelessness, this tyranny. We will not let it be forgotten!"

'Equality does not come by waiting'

"We know very well what we are fighting against, what we are struggling with. Dear friends, our country is a rich country. Our country's resources are developed resources. Do you know why we are poor? Do you know why we are exploited so much? Because a handful of bosses, a handful of parasites have seized those riches, those resources. As long as bosses exist in this country, looting and plunder will not end. Women will be exploited more.

As long as religious sects exist in this country, abuse will fall to children, and death will fall to women. They will trample secularism underfoot. As long as imperialists exist, we will open our eyes to a new darkness every day. We will open them to new war threats. We know. We know that there is no freedom without equality, without independence, without secularism. There is no women's right without freedom. Look, from history to the present, the owners of the system have never bestowed our rights upon us. They did not give us our rights.

When we struggled, we got them. When we clenched our fists, we got them. When we poured into the streets saying we will take our rights, we got them. We took our rights tooth and nail through struggle. Today, in 2025, it will be the same again. We will take our rights through struggle again. Well, when we call for struggle, what do some say? They say wait. 'Wait, he will go. We will come. When we come, we will give you your rights. We will give you your freedom.' They say, 'This system can be improved.' They say, 'Let's bargain a little more. Let's re-establish democracy within this system.'"

'Those who think they can defeat us will be disappointed!'

"We are fed up with these lies. Equality does not come by waiting. Freedom does not come by waiting. Secularism does not come by waiting. What is it that they offer us as salvation? 'Let this one-man go, let another one-man come.' What is it that they tell us as salvation? 'Take the ballot boxes, go cast your vote, then go sit in your home.' Take those ballot boxes and smash them over your heads. Our salvation is in the street. Our salvation is in the struggle. Our salvation is in our own hands.

Our salvation is in socialism, friends. When I look here, I see anger in the eyes. I see hope, I see excitement. Those who think they can defeat us, they will be disappointed. They will not be able to defeat us. We will tear this darkness apart all together."

'Hand in hand, women and men, we will establish the rule of the working class.'

"We will hold the AKP government, which comes at us as it fails to govern, which tries to crush us as it fails to govern, which auctions off our country to holdings and religious sects, accountable. Let them fear us. With our power, our unity, our solidarity, we can defeat this darkness. Roll up your sleeves. We will defeat this darkness.

They have only one thing in their hands. The seats they are sitting on right now. Today, on March 8, we declare all over Turkey that we, women and men hand in hand, will tear down and pass over the holdings, the religious sects, TÜSİAD, and the AKP, which thinks the country is its father's farm. We will take that government they rely on out of their hands all together. Hand in hand, women and men, we will establish the rule of the working class.

On that day, we will have established the country we dream of, the socialism where our children live safely and happily, and women live equally and freely. On the day we take the government from them, women will shout in the most powerful way: Women have defeated this system! Women have defeated this system! Women have defeated this system!"

Following Senem Doruk İnam's speech, the meeting ended with the KDK Choir performing their songs.

ANKARA

Hundreds of people who came to Ankara at the call of the KDKs gathered on Sakarya Street. The first word was taken by university student Nefise Mert on behalf of the Youth Women's Solidarity Committees.

'What they tell is not our story'

Mert said, "Under the name of the year of the family, they are trying to suppress women, whom they have systematically suppressed for 24 years, even more and force them into their own molds. Then, when March 8 comes, they decorate advertisements as International Women's Day. What is told in those words is not our story. What is told is not the story of young women forced to work without insurance for pennies, of girls locked in religious sect dormitories, of high school students whose brains are washed using religion in imam-hatip schools, of our classmates forced into marriage while struggling with a lack of future.

Just 6 months ago, 2 high school students, Ayşenur and İkbal, were brutally murdered, and Narin's lifeless body was found days later. The culprits of all these are the same. They take their anger out on women as they cannot make them accept the Turkey they want. There are women resisting in this country. There are women who say I have an objection. We call on everyone who says this inequality touches my honor. Let's build bright tomorrows against darkness together," she said.

'Women need to organize for a socialist society'

After Mert, Zeynep Ünal, speaking on behalf of the Working Women's Work, drew attention to the working and living conditions of working women and said the following:

"This system of exploitation unfortunately continues over the entire working class regardless of gender. Working conditions are getting heavier day by day and dissatisfaction with wages continues, and female laborers are exposed to this exploitation the most. Mobbing in workplaces is applied most to working women, they fire us the easiest, we are exposed to physical and verbal harassment the most. They have the audacity to ask about our private lives line by line.

Our housewives are among those most left alone and exploited in this system. It is their duty to look after the sick, the elderly, and children at home. And they never have any rights. Dear friends, this system covers us like a black cloud every day. We have to put a stop to this now. We know that working women are the most effective guiding, unifying, and protective individuals of society. For a socialist society, the empowerment of women, the expansion of their areas of activity, and their organization are of great importance. Long live our organized struggle, long live March 8."

'March 8 is a day of awakening, a day of outcry'

After Zeynep Ünal's speech, the KDK Choir performed their songs. Then, Ankara KDK representative Eda Mermi made a speech.

"We are together on this day of struggle when our hearts beat with a common rhythm. Today is not just a commemoration, but a day of resistance, an awakening, an outcry. Today is the day when our hope is reborn and our struggle grows together. Happy day!" Mermi said in her speech:

"As every year, we are celebrating March 8 this year in a period when inequality is compounded, injustice and oppression have become the rule, workers and laborers are struggling to live in conditions of misery, and violence against women has reached unimaginable dimensions.

Today, as women in Turkey, we are intertwined and face to face with darkness more than ever. Moreover, this darkness has surrounded not only our night but also our day. But we know very well the reason for this darkness deemed appropriate for us. The reason for this darkness is the endless looting and exploitation of the bosses. The reason for this darkness is the attempt of religious sects and religious reactionaries to take over our country. In other words, the reason for this darkness is the boss system, the system of exploitation.

'We do not bow down to poverty, violence, exploitation, inequality'

"We women are employed with low wages, without insurance, insecurely, without rules, and moreover threatened with unemployment so that they can get rich while the bosses loot the resources of our beautiful country.

Every day we face violence and pressure at work, at school, at home, and on the street. Every day we open our eyes to a day when secularism has no validity even on paper, and the values of the republic are being demolished over us one by one.

This system means poverty for us, it means unemployment. This system means inequality for us women, it means violence. While this system increases its attack on us with all its institutions, we do not stay silent, we shout. We do not bow down to the poverty, violence, exploitation, and inequality they deem appropriate for us, and we will not."

İZMİR

In İzmir, women who gathered with the Women's Solidarity Committees from all over Turkey on March 8 met in front of Karşıyaka İZBAN at 17:00 and walked along Karşıyaka Bazaar. The march, where many women from neighborhoods, campuses, and sectors such as textiles, tobacco, metal, education, and health met, turned into a public meeting at the entrance of Karşıyaka Bazaar where working women took the floor.

After greeting the working women who are on strike and resisting for their rights at Kemalpaşa Temel Conta, Bornova Sunel Tobacco, Torbalı Öz-Ege, Oryantal and T.T.L Tobacco, Buca Telus call center, and Gaziemir Digel Textile, the first word was taken by Helin İren Elaldı on behalf of private school teachers.

Private school teacher Elaldı: 'We are fighting for both ourselves and the bright future of our country'

Starting her speech by stating that she is a female laborer who is mobbed, worked for long hours for low wages, and forced to provide educational services without public security, Elaldı said, "We are raising our children for the future. We are preparing them for the future, but for what future? A future where they will be killed on the lathes of MESEM, a future where they are exposed to violence and abuse in religious sect dormitories, or a future where they are forced into marriage, become pregnant, and are made to work? Education is in the grip of reactionism and marketization, and it is being removed from being a right for us laborers day by day. On one hand, they pollute the content of education with reactionism, and on the other, they transfer millions of liras of public resources that they should allocate to public schools to private school bosses, reactionary associations, and foundations," she said.

Textile worker Uludağ: 'Textile worker women won by fighting shoulder to shoulder with the female worker next to them'

After Elaldı, Ulviye Uludağ spoke on behalf of textile worker women. Starting her speech by stating that she spoke on behalf of textile worker women who are employed in under-the-stairs textile workshops, sometimes without insurance, sometimes with fake insurance, and who never give up the struggle, Uludağ stated that textile worker women won their rights by fighting shoulder to shoulder with the female worker next to them, and that they do not accept falling behind these rights, and that they want more.

Lawyer Diril: 'We will not surrender any woman to the spiral of violence!'

After Uludağ, Lawyer Emel Diril took the floor on behalf of women fighting against the increasing femicides and child abuse every day. Stating that the statistics regarding femicides and suspicious female deaths are increasing in direct proportion to the increasing religious reactionism, hunger, poverty, and inequality in the country, Diril continued her speech by explaining what the Women's Solidarity Committees have done:

"We know that the solution is in our own power. We know that as we come together and stand organized, we can disperse the darkness. As Women's Solidarity Committees, we stand by women who are exposed to violence in their legal processes. We do not leave them alone in our neighborhood houses, in the women's solidarity committees in our neighborhoods, we stand in solidarity. We will not surrender any woman to this blind darkness and spiral of violence, we will not leave them alone. We will hold the account of all women who lost their lives in femicides."

TKP İzmir Provincial President Tuğçe Sezen Gedik: 'Poverty is mostly on the backs of women'

After Diril, TKP İzmir Provincial President Tuğçe Sezen Gedik made a speech. Starting her speech by addressing the system's application of cosmetic discounts and shooting deceptive commercials to empty the content of March 8, Gedik said, "March 8 is the day of working women, it was won by the struggle of working women. We are celebrating March 8 this year in a period when inequality is compounded, injustice and oppression have increased, laborers are struggling to live in conditions of misery, and violence against women has reached unimaginable dimensions. However, we know that we will be able to make a real celebration when we build the equal and free tomorrows that are the salvation of women," she said.

Stating that women in Turkey are facing a darkness heavier than ever before, Gedik said, "At the source of this darkness is the endless looting of holdings, the takeover of our country by religious sects, and the gain of weight of religious reactionism in social life."

"We women are trying to live in the grip of the cost of living while bosses loot the resources of our beautiful country. The burden of poverty is mostly on our backs. While some fill their coffers with greed, we cannot fill our children's lunchboxes.

While public resources are mobilized for the profits of holdings, the burden of childcare, elderly care, and endless housework falls to women. We live in this system in poverty, with an unimaginable spiral of violence that accompanies the devaluation of women's labor. We open our eyes to news of a new femicide every day."

Touching on the Alawite massacre in Syria, Gedik said, "They started a war in Syria right under our noses. They tore Syria apart with expansionism and neo-Ottoman dreams. They glorified jihadists who are remnants of ISIS. Today, these jihadist gangs are massacring Alawite citizens in Syria. For us, this means misogyny, it means oppression. It means we have no right left to live, to breathe," she said.

Expressing that the system increases its attack on women with all its institutions at every opportunity, Gedik emphasized that working women do not bow down and say, "We have an objection to exploitation, poverty, and violence."

"We have an objection to the system that leaves women alone. We have an objection to laws that do not protect women.

We have an objection to those who declare this year the year of the family as if mocking while women are murdered by their husbands, fathers, and brothers despite so much protection and measures. We have an objection to those who do not see women as equal. We have an objection to those who try to imprison women at home. And we have no intention of giving in to those who say they won't make a sound anyway, they won't be able to object anyway, and who think they can defeat us."

Gedik: 'Greetings to the women who have been on strike and resisting in front of their factories in İzmir for days!'

"Women who work seasonally in tobacco in İzmir, who work like surface miners in dust and dirt, and who cannot earn the right to retirement despite working for 30 years because their insurance is seasonal, are resisting today to get their rights. There are workers who were put out the door because they wanted to unionize at Temel Conta. Temel Conta workers have been working for years in a job guaranteed to cause lung cancer under heavy chemicals. Greetings to all women resisting for their labor, your struggle is our struggle."

After the speeches, which ended with enthusiastic applause, whistles, and whistle sounds, the Nâzım Hikmet Culture Center Bi Dünya Women's Choir gave a mini-concert with their songs. After the concert, the action ended with a call made to working women to join the Women's Solidarity Committees.

MERSİN

In Mersin, women who raised their voices on March 8, did not bow down, and said "we are strong together" gathered in front of Forum AVM and marched with the Women's Solidarity Committees. After the march to Alanya Street accompanied by applause and slogans, Fatma Albayrak made a speech on behalf of the Mersin KDK Working Women's work.

'Being left alone is our greatest enemy'

Starting her speech by stating that she is a laborer who still has to work at the age of 62, Albayrak said, "My life has passed with struggle and work, mine is a life spent having to work forever, never being able to rest, always thinking about rent, bills, nutrition, the child's school expenses, like millions of working women. While this system deems us worthy of living in poverty until we die and earning just enough to survive, it also promises being shot in the middle of the street, being humiliated, being ignored," she said. Albayrak said, "In this system, in these conditions, being left alone, feeling alone is our greatest enemy, we cannot breathe by ourselves, fighting all together means breathing and changing this course," she said.

'Bigotry is trying to make women second-class citizens. We will not bow down'

University student Nida Batıyel, who took the floor after Fatma Albayrak, stated that the system does not protect women. "The reactionary mentality silences women. It leaves us defenseless against violence, harassment, and abuse and then wants us to be silent. Those who say 'a woman's place is her home,' those who see women as men's property, those who question 'what was she doing at that hour of the night?' are actually a part of every evil we experience. Bigotry is trying to make women second-class citizens. They even want to control what we wear, how we laugh, who we talk to. And we become a target when we do not obey. If a woman is strong, if she defends her rights, if she says 'I exist!', they deem all kinds of pressure appropriate for her. But we will not bow down to this pressure," she said. Stating that she realized she was not alone when she met the KDK, Batıyel ended her speech by saying, "If you also want this system that pushes us into fear, anxiety, and despair to change, be a part of this solidarity. Let's give each other strength, let's be each other's voice. Because as we stand side by side, we can change everything."

ANTALYA

In Antalya, an action and press statement were held at Attalos Square at the call of the KDK. Mine Kılıç, who spoke on behalf of working women, stated that besides poverty and unemployment, women are also the target of discrimination, inequality, religious reactionism, injustice that ignores women, and increasing violence, and said, "Violence, exploitation, unemployment, insecurity, discrimination, pressure... These are just a few of the problems we experience in this system. When I met the Women's Solidarity Committees, I realized that I was not alone in this difficult life struggle and that we could only achieve gains when we fought. That's why I am a part of this solidarity and struggle here today," she said.

'We know that the mortar of violence against women is mixed with religious reactionism. We will change this system'

Mine Kılıç continued her speech as follows:

"They tell us 'sit at home,' 'obey,' 'be content with your fate.' But we know now: It is not patience, but struggle that wins! We pursue our right to childcare, our right to free health and education together, we fight together against the exploitation, mobbing, and harassment we experience in workplaces, and we grow solidarity against abuse and violence shoulder to shoulder.

We know that in the boss system we live in, the mortar of compounded exploitation and violence against women is mixed with religious reactionism. According to us, the fight with capital and the struggle for secularism is the key for women to reach an equal position in social life. We declare from here: We will definitely establish an equal country where secularism prevails and our labor is not exploited! We will change this system."

After Kılıç, Damla Kökten, who spoke on behalf of Antalya KDK, said, "Today, women in Turkey are facing a darkness heavier than ever before. At the source of this darkness lies the endless looting of holdings, the takeover of our country by religious sects, the gain of weight of religious reactionism in social life, in short, the boss system," she said.

'This system means poverty for women, it means unemployment, it means increasing violence. We have an objection'

"We live in this system in poverty, with an unimaginable spiral of violence that accompanies the devaluation of women's labor. We open our eyes to news of a new femicide every day. This system means poverty for women, it means unemployment, it means increasing violence," Kökten said in her speech:

"They increase their attack on women with all their institutions at every opportunity. We working women do not bow down, we say we have an objection to exploitation, poverty, and violence. We have an objection to the system that leaves women alone. We have an objection to laws that do not protect women. We have an objection to those who declare this year the year of the family as if mocking while women are murdered by their husbands, fathers, and brothers despite so much protection and measures. We have an objection to those who do not see women as equal. We have an objection to those who try to imprison women at home. We have an objection to the pot we cannot fill, the lunchbox we cannot prepare for our child, the bill we cannot pay, hunger, poverty, in short, this system."

The family of Pınar Zorlu, who was seriously injured after Gürhan Üzer, whom she had divorced and obtained a restraining order against, poured gasoline on her and set her on fire in Antalya, and who lost her life in the hospital where she was treated for 20 days, also attended the KDK's action in Antalya.

MUĞLA

The Women's Solidarity Committees made a press statement at Yoğurtçu Park in the Sıtkı Koçman University Campus in Menteşe, Muğla. In the statement, Ümmühan Korkut, who was beaten to death by her husband 2 months ago in Muğla because she did not cook, was also mentioned. Aleyna Yıldız, who made the statement on behalf of Muğla KDK, said, "we have to show that women are not alone and weak."

'We have no intention of giving in to those who think they can defeat us'

Muğla KDK, which held an action in the city for Korkut, had walked to the front of the courthouse, passing the police barricade, despite being exposed to police intervention after the murder of Ayşenur Halil and İkbal Uzuner.

The following statements were included in the Muğla KDK statement:

"Not very far away, here in the city we live in, in our universities, in the workplaces we work in, in the cafes we sit in to have a coffee in the evening, we see all kinds of violence against women. Violence continues to exist in every area, even in student dormitories where women have to stay while studying. In Muğla, student dormitories force female students who have to work to choose between working or staying. We will not bow down to this tyranny.

We will not allow them to cut the bill for us having to work while studying at university. That is why the growth of women's solidarity committees is important. Shortly before this, after the murder of İkbal Uzuner and Ayşenur Halil, we did not bow down to those who tried to hinder women, not the murderers. Ümmühan Korkut was beaten to death 2 months ago in Köyceğiz, Muğla because she did not cook at home. We have to show that the women around us are not alone and weak, that is why the Women's Solidarity Committees are important. We have no intention of giving in to those who say they won't make a sound anyway, they won't be able to object anyway, and who think they can defeat us."

SAMSUN

The action of the Women's Solidarity Committees in Samsun was held at Atakum Banda Aceh Park.

Eda Ateşli, who made the statement on behalf of Samsun KDK, said, "Every day we open our eyes to a country where secularism has no validity even on paper, and the values of the Republic are being destroyed one by one with neo-Ottoman dreams. Religious sects are taking over the country a little more every day, religious reactionism is increasingly flourishing in the social sphere. For us, this means misogyny, it means oppression, it means harassment. It means we have no right left to live, to breathe," she said.

Ateşli said, "They increase their attack on women with all their institutions at every opportunity. We working women do not bow down, we say we have an objection to exploitation, poverty, and violence. We have an objection to the system that leaves women alone. We have an objection to laws that do not protect women."

After the press statement, a march was held to Lozan Park accompanied by torches, whistles, and pots and pans.

ESKİŞEHİR

In Eskişehir, those who said "It is not women, but this system that will be defeated! We have an objection!" gathered in front of Espark AVM at the call of the KDK. During the march to the front of Kanatlı AVM, slogans such as "We will not bow down to darkness" and "Women resist, this system changes" were chanted.

Then a press statement was made in front of Kanatlı AVM. Kübra Ekinbaş, who made the statement on behalf of Eskişehir KDK, said, "This is our call to all women gathered here today. Come, let us show everyone together who will be defeated to those who think they can defeat us! Come, let us tear down this system over the heads of the parasites, those who suck our blood. We are not alone, we are not helpless. Join the Women's Solidarity Committees to turn pessimism into hope and excitement. Let us build an equal and free country all together," she said.

ÇANAKKALE

In Çanakkale, women who took their objections to the street at the call of the KDK gathered in front of the Clock Tower. After the action, which started with slogans, a press statement was read. During the action, marches played by the Leftist High School Students Band were sung.

Actions and events were also organized in Adana, Bursa, Hatay, Kocaeli, Balıkesir, Aydın, Tekirdağ, and Giresun at the call of the Women's Solidarity Committees. The KDK meetings will continue on Sunday in Didim and Gaziantep.

News Source : Hazal Güven