Outrage at violence unites women across Turkey's ideological divide
Turkish women across political and ideological divides are united in anger over news that an abduction and rape victim has died.
Fury over the abduction and rape of an 18-year-old woman by a Turkish officer in the Kurdish-majority province of Batman in southeast Turkey reached fever pitch following news that the victim, identified as Ipek Er, had died today in the hospital where she was being treated after attempting to take her own life on July 16.
Er is but the latest victim of a ballooning number of femicides. At least 474 women were killed last year, mostly by men and many by their male relatives, marking the highest number in a decade.
Calls for the arrest of the suspect, Musa Orhan, were echoed across social media with many airing outrage over him being freed under judicial supervision following his detention on July 17. Orhan turned himself into the police today in the southeastern province of Siirt after prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest, ostensibly in response to the public outcry. Over 350,000 tweets with the hashtag #MusaOrhan were posted prior to his arrest.
Orhan had initially denied the rape allegations. When confronted with a forensic report showing that the victim had been raped, Orhan claimed he had been inebriated but provided no further details. A secrecy order was slapped on the case following Orhan’s release. Idris Yayla of the pro-Kurdish Jiyan Haber news agency was put under criminal investigation of “inciting hatred” for daring to report on the tragedy. The move triggered a further bout of anger.
