JINHA

ANKARA - Peace Mothers marched against war and held a memorial for the Suruç victims in Ankara, Turkey.

The Peace Mothers are a group of women affected by war in Turkey and Kurdistan. In Turkey's capital of Ankara, the Mothers and the Ankara Women's Platform held a march and memorial ceremony in the wake of the Suruç bombing, in which socialist youth were killed while on the way to help rebuild the besieged city of Kobanê.

The women gathered at Güven Park, led by the Peace Mothers in their characteristic black clothes and white headscarves and bearing a banner that read: "Until there is an honorable peace in this country, our rage won't end." Police attempted to stop the women from marching to the building of Turkey's ruling AKP, but the women resisted.

"The state doesn't stand up for our children, so let's stand up for them ourselves," said Peace Mother Hanım Varlı, reading the women's statement in spite of the police presence. "If there had been peace at the right time, we wouldn't have lost so many children, experienced so much pain." Hanım noted that the guerrillas targeted by the Turkish state for so long are now Turkey's only protection against Daesh and war.

After a sit-in, the women joined hands, stood up and passed over the police barricade, ululating and chanting slogans. They were met by a large contingent of armored vehicles and police blocking their path to the AKP building.

A delegation of five women tried to overcome the police barricade. They hoped to leave the white headscarves, the symbol of the Peace Mothers' resistance, at the AKP building, but police blocked their way. "If you're even scared of the women's peace symbol, the white scarf, shame on you," said one woman. After leaving their headscarves in front of the police line, the women lay down on the ground and later dispersed.

(de/fk/cm)