"Stop Sexual Harassment in Police and Gendarmerie"

The demonstration took place in Kızılay, a district of the Turkish capital Ankara, on Saturday (29 August). About 20 women of the FeministBiz group participated in the protest. They arranged a confined area by erecting a small fence right in front of a busy department store. The women made this area look like a cemetery when they laid down on the pavement, covering themselves with bed sheets inscribed with slogans like "I am in prison and I cannot visit a doctor because the gendarmerie will harass me on the way." 

The women explained that they have been informed about the violence by reports of the women that were released from prisons, and their protest was addressed against the applications in Sincan F Type Prison.

 "On the way to a doctor the women are exposed to the aggression and sexual harassment by the people actually in charge of taking them to hospital. The same attendants stay in the room the whole time while the doctor examines the patient and they abuse those women. Verbal and physical harassment by the prison staff in the cell is only one part of the problem. This situation is a direct threat to the right to live and it is a part of disentitling the right to live of the other imprisoned and detained women, as it happens to Güler Zere who is condemned to death."

Güler Zere is a detainee in Adana prison ill with fourth stage cancer. According to a medical report, Zere is in danger of dying and the hospital's prison ward is not suitable for continuing her treatment. However, the Istanbul Forensic Medical Institute's 3rd specialist board said in its report that Zere could continue her treatment as a prisoner.

With the protest FeministBiz urges the Ministry of Justice to take action and calls for an end of sexual violence.

The Students Youth Union (GençSen) reported about a female student who was exposed to sexual harassment and heavy insults after being taken to the Çankaya police station. GençSen had recently organized a protest against an increase of university fees in front of the Ankara Council of Ministers and members of the organization had been arrested by the police. It is declared that the police committed a criminal offence.

According to the Human Rights Association (İHD), in July two police officers in Diyarbakır conducted a roundup and forced a woman who tried to defend her right to undress under threats. The woman informed some organizations and the Diyarbakır governorship started an investigation. (EZÖ/VK)