JINHA

ISTANBUL – Turkey's storied Purple Roof Women's Shelter Foundation celebrated 25 years of work with a celebration yesterday in Istanbul.

Purple Roof was founded in 1990 to provide shelter, psychological and legal support to women suffering from violence in Turkey. Women gathered in Istanbul's Şiirci Café yesterday to share stories from 25 years of the foundation's work.

Canan Arın, one of the foundation's founders, spoke at the gathering, describing the gains the women's movement has made in Turkey since the 1980s when the concept of Purple Roof was first conceived.

The Foundation has focused on directly organizing women, rather than change from above. Lawyer Hülya Gülbahar recalled that in the 1990s, when other groups were focusing on lobbying behind closed doors for laws on violence against women, Purple Roof members instead formed a coalition with other women's groups to take to the streets to demand the law.

(sö/gc/cm)