JINHA

ISTANBUL – In an action that combines a symbol of domestic intimacy with the face of a woman who has become a symbol of resistance against rape, feminist artists have filled the streets of Istanbul with sheets bearing the face of Nevin Yıldırım. Nevin is currently facing life in prison in Turkey for killing her rapist.

"It doesn't come out in the wash; Nevin is watching you," read some sheets, from which Nevin's face looks down at passersby in the streets of Istanbul. "The state protects rapists," read others.

Women will take to the streets with sheets in hand tomorrow for a final push for Nevin's freedom: a mass action at downtown Istanbul's Galatasary Square before the Supreme Court of Appeals finalizes her life sentence verdict.

Nevin killed her rapist in her hometown near the Black Sea in 2012, after surviving a long period in which he repeatedly raped her at gunpoint. In late March, a Turkish court sentenced Nevin to life in prison. Meanwhile, Turkish courts are notorious for, almost without exception, reducing the sentences of male perpetrators of femicide, claiming they were "provoked." Although courts refused to even consider her case as one of self-defense, the women's movement has made Nevin an icon of resistance and women's self-defense in the country.

Feminist artists have called women to bring their sheets, pillowcases and t-shirts to Galatasaray Square tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. for the massive action. The artists who started the campaign, speaking to the news site Bianet, explained that the wanted to use a material—sheets—that all women could find in their own homes as a canvas for the larger-than-life stencils of Nevin's face, now staring down defiantly at Istanbulites from buildings and windows across the city today.

The signature campaign "Freedom for Nevin Yıldırım" is available in English using Google Translate here: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fnevineozgurluk.org%2F&edit-text=&act=url)

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