Military Seargent Musa Orhan raped 18 year old Ipek Er in the Batman in Eastern Turkey. Ipek Er committed suicide as a result. Musa Orhan, who is responsible for the death of this young woman, is being protected by the Turkish state because he served in the military and comes from a nationalist racist family.
He was released from prison after only 1 week. There has been outcry across the country with women’s organisations, campaign groups and celebrities calling out the Turkish state’s systematic protection of perpetrators of violence against women, and calls for the imprisonment of Musa Orhan have been growing. The Turkish authorities have been tightly policing dissent, exemplified in the abrupt removal of Melek Mosso (a singer) from the stage during a concert at which she called for the Istanbul Convention to be honoured and said it saved women’s lives.
Everyday there are more and more reports of women being murdered and raped across Turkey. This is fueled by the Turkish state’s open support and protection for perpertrators of violence against women.
The criminalisation of democratic protest/opposition and the protection of perpetrators of violence against women and girls in Turkey must be stopped.
Join us to strengthen solidarity in the UK with progressive forces and women’s groups in Turkey.