Two women’s rallies marked International Women’s Day in Istanbul on 8 March.

The first took place on the “European side” of Istanbul, in Caglayan. According to the Radikal newspaper, around 10,000 people attended this rally.

Nilüfer Zengin from bianet was also there. Here are her impressions:

“Sevim Zarif, who was killed by her former husband, Güldünya Tören, who was killed by her brothers for becoming pregnant by her cousin’s husband, trainee doctor Ayse Yilbas, who was killed by her husband…these women and many others were not ‘present’ at the Caglayan rally.”

Nationalism rather than women's rights 

Zengin’s impression was that the Caglayan rally was instead a “less crowded Republican rally”, with the main issue being a protest against the headscarf.

The rally started with a minute of silence for the “martyrs”, i.e. the soldiers who have died fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the national anthem was sung.

Some women were holding banners reading “Just like our flags, our hair will blow freely.” Zengin commented in her article, “How does that work? Women’s hair and the flag? Give up using the female body as objects for your national fantasies!”

Zengin missed any reference to “working women, violence against women, women’s shelters, the male judiciary and the ‘provocation’ reductions in punishments for men killing women.”

Many Turkish flags... 

“I was one of the very few people in the square without a Turkish flag. A flag seller followed me saying ‘A flag for the price of cigarettes.’ When I did not buy one, he called after me, ‘Let’s not go to the rally without a flag, it would be shameful.’ …Of course this drew the attention of some people [to my flagless state]. It made it more difficult for me to ask women about their feelings…My attempts at asking questions were drowned out by marches and songs, and women kept calling ‘They cannot put headscarves on our heads.’”

In Kadiköy, a focus on social issues 

Meanwhile, there was a different kind of rally on the “Asian side” of Istanbul, in Kadiköy. Emine Özcan attended the rally for bianet:

“Around 3,5000 women marched to the Kadiköy ferry jetty, carrying different banners, playing drums, singing songs and shouting slogans.”

No men were accepted at the rally, at which there were strong reactions to a recent comment by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had advised women to have three children. Women shouted slogans telling Erdogan to “breed himself.”

Protests against operations, "honour" killings, and social security reform

Women further protested against the cross-border operations, murders committed in the name of “honour”, violence directed at women, the recent murder of Ayse Yilbas, as well as  the planned reform of the social security and health security law.

The protesters further demanded that the constitution be amended to guarantee equality before the law irrespective of sexual orientation.

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) was strongly represented and women called for peace.

Özcan said, “Compared to previous years, there were many young women at the rally. When the crowd had arrived at the square in Kadiköy, there were messages of support for worker women read from a stage, a peaceful and democratic solution to the Kurdish question was demanded, and Turkish and Kurdish songs were played.”

Trade unions, parties of the left and NGOs 

The rally was attended by the Collaboration (Imece) Women, the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Trade Unions (DISK), the Trade Union for Public Employers (KESK), the Assocation of Labour Women (EKD), the Trade Union of Students and Youth (Genc Sen), the Socialist Democracy Party (SDP), the DTP, the gay rights group Lambdainstanbul, the Feminist Collective, Student Collectives, the trade union for textile workers (Tekstil Sen), the Global Action Group, the Labour Party (EMEP) and the Peace Mothers. (NZ/EZÖ/GG/AG)