Sarya Gözüoğlu- Beritan Elyakut /JINHA

AMED – After students launched a spontaneous night march last night against a harassment incident at the Dicle University campus in Diyarbakır, Turkey, women students are speaking out to say that they have been harassed repeatedly on campus before the eyes of police.

Last night, two women students were walking to their dormitory when two individuals in a car (whose license plate number has been shared on social media) first verbally harassed them, then pulled over and started physically harassing them. Women spontaneously gathered and held a night march in spite of a police barricade designed to stop them. Women at the march, who chanted slogans calling for police off campus, said that harassment is a longstanding issue at Dicle University.

"They throw cigarette butts and alcohol bottles at us from the windows of cars," said İrem Durak, a student at the march. She noted that women have repeatedly applied to the rector's office demanding precautions against harassment, but nothing has happened. "Walking in safety here is our right, but nothing is being done."

Student Mizgin Turun noted that the isolated and unsafe campus (established in 1966) was intentionally built far from the city of Diyarbakır as a political measure.

"The real goal is to imprison us in a corner on a mountainside, far from social and political life," said Mizgin. The remote location also makes for an unsafe environment for women; students say the isolated rural location and lack of any security measures makes rape on campus much easier. Among the protestors, many said they had experienced dozens of harassment incidents, often with the full knowledge of campus police.

Bahar Çiçek, another student, recalled an incident when an individual was physically and verbally harassing women on campus. Women students notified the police, but they said that because the incident was not taking place within the physical walls of a dorm, they would not intervene. In the meantime, the man harassed ten more students. Students were only able to drive out the attacker by throwing stones at him.

"Instead of waiting for something from this bigoted mindset, we will be out to develop our own self-defense and build our own alternatives," said Mizgin.

(fk/cm)