WHAT WE DESERVE- FIGHTING FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN TURKEY

After the 2023 earthquakes in Turkey, the opinions surrounding the Turkish government showed a dramatic shift. With elections in May, the last thing the administration wanted was public gatherings protesting current leadership. However, on International Women’s Day, thousands of citizens took to the streets in the center of Istanbul by Taksim Square. Not only is it illegal to hold protests in Turkey, but on March 8, a new order was issued banning meetings of more than three people in public. Women huddled together secretly sporting the color purple to show their allegiance to equal rights- an issue that is ignored by those in power. The bigoted mentality around women is woven into the fabric of daily life in every part of the country. Women in the workforce are blamed by government officials for rising unemployment rates, they are sexualized for freedom of expression, and according to Human Rights Watch, more than eleven million women have faced sexual or domestic violence in Turkey. Most interestingly are the lengths the Turkish government went to in order to prevent their citizens from marching peacefully. It took the government eight hours to send military and police to the epicenters of the earthquake costing tens of thousands of lives but leading up to the women’s march, hundreds of police and army vehicles lined the streets with gated barriers as means of intimidation. Takism Square, Istanbuls main tourist district, closed in the afternoon, street access was blocked completely, and law enforcement stood outside of restaurants and bars waiting to make arrests. As the sun set, participants began arriving in droves unable to mobilize due to police barricades. The community need for change echoed through chanting that went on late into the night. Eventually the nonviolent event was answered by police tear gas causing confrontational standoffs between law enforcement and individuals in the crowd unwilling to submit in their cry for justice. By morning, one hundred arrests had been made across the country. This outcome was to be expected says 27-year-old Isik. “On paper women have rights— but we can’t access them and if we really need to be heard there is no one with power willing to listen. I don’t remember the last time I felt safe in this country and it is getting worse,” she says.

Four female students sit discretely outside a bar in Istanbul after the president made a new order that people couldn’t congregate in groups of four or more.

Isik, 27, leans back on the couch in her apartment as she describes the culture around women in Turkey disclosing her own experiences with sexual violence.

Zeynep walks through a crowd of women near Takysm square prior to the official gathering of women protesting the Turkish government on International Women’s Day.

The symbol for women is painted on the chest of a protestor on the streets of Istanbul.

A young female refugee is silhouetted in the shadows with the Turkish flag in the background.

Women scream their demands as police start to close in on the thousands in the street protesting women’s rights.

Police and civilians clash as they have in prior years demonstrating the Turkish government’s aggressive response to public protesting.

A purple feather remains on the sidewalk following an intense evening of protesting in Istanbul. The color represents women’s solidarity and was worn discreetly amongst women to demonstrate their support for the march.

Barriers were erected for days throughout the city alongside dispatched police officers surrounding the women’s march in Istanbul on March 8, 2023.