This archive report was first published on 28 September 2019.
On a chilly Istanbul evening, hundreds of women gathered in the Kadikoy neighbourhood, their voices echoing through the streets as they demanded an end to the rising tide of violence against them.
They were there to remember Emine Bulut, a 38-year-old woman who was stabbed to death by her ex-husband in a cafe in Kirikkale on August 18, 2019. The brutal attack, captured on video and shared online, sent shockwaves across Turkey.
"Stop the murder of women!" and "Do not watch violence, do something" were among the chants that filled the air as the protesters demanded action against the rising number of murders targeting women.
According to the women's rights group We Will Stop Femicide, a total of 440 women were killed in Turkey last year, with 294 of them murdered in the first eight months of 2019 alone. The group has been tracking gender-related deaths and has been a vocal advocate for stronger laws to prevent domestic violence.
Despite Turkey's ratification of the Council of Europe's 2011 Istanbul Convention on preventing domestic violence, activists say more needs to be done to put the laws into practice.
"We will be out on the streets to protect women's rights until no single woman is killed," protester Bircan Sahin told AFP.
