JINHA

ISTANBUL - Women marched through the streets of Istanbul against femicide yesterday.

The Emergency Action Group Against Women Homicides called a march in Istanbul's neighborhood of Kadıköy. Parliamentary representative Filiz Kerestecioğlu of the HDP, the group Peace Mothers Assembly and the resisting workers of the Serapool factory in Istanbul were among the crowd at the march.

"The massacre of women continues! We aren't quiet. We aren't being defeated. We are defending our lives with solidarity," read the massive sign behind which women marched through the streets of Kadıköy. 141 femicides have appeared in the news in Turkey during the first six months of 2015. Of the 26 femicide cases that reached the Turkish courts, half of them resulted in sentence reductions for the perpetrators--a practice particularly widespread for perpetrators of femicide in Turkey.

"Men use violence against women to direct and control women's bodies, labor and identities and to strengthen their power," said anti-femicide activist Umut Avcı, speaking at the march.

Suna Altun, speaking in Kurdish at the march, called for Turkey's new Parliament to take immediate action against the ongoing massacre of women.

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