JINHA

ISTANBUL - Hundreds of women held a sit-in in Istanbul to protest the Turkish state's escalating war.

Women's Initiative for Peace called the sit-in for Galatasaray Square yesterday. Women sat-in with banners denouncing the ruling government, then made noise with pots, pans and whistles. The Istanbul Peace Mothers and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) women representatives were among the attendees at the sit-in.

Activist Hale Çelebi, speaking at the sit-in, referenced an incident in the Turkish Parliament this week when AKP politician BülentArınç shouted at woman HDP representative NurselAydoğan, who along with other HDP representatives wasarguing against the AKP's war policies: "Shut up; as a woman, shut up!"

"We are the ones who men try to silence and erase, but who will never be quiet; the ones who, won't abandon any space where our voice is silenced just as we don't abandon the streets at night; the women resisting," said Hale.

"As women, we won't shut up; we will make noise for peace," Hale said.

(ödk-ro/dc/fk/cm)