Protesters across Turkey denounce murder of student

World Today

Protesters across Turkey denounce murder and rape of studentA Member of Turkey’s Bar Association holds a poster depicting slain Ozgecan Aslan, in Ankara, on February 16, 2015 during a march to protest against a law that strenghtens the police’s power. Anger mounted in Turkey Monday over the murder and attempted rape by a bus driver of the 20-year-old female student whose burned body was discovered on February 13, as a court placed three suspects in pre-trial detention over the brutal killing. AFP PHOTO/ADEM ALTAN

Police detained five women protesters on Sunday (February 15) who unfurled a banner atop of a building in Istanbul’s Taksim square to denounce brutal murder of a 20-year old student that triggered outrage across the country, Dogan news agency reported.

Police found the burnt and stabbed body of a 20-year old psychology student Ozgecan Aslan on Friday (February 13) in the southern province of Mersin two days after she was reported missing.

Three suspects, including a minibus driver and his father, were detained and two of them admitted stabbing and burning her before dumping the body to a riverbed.

The brutal murder triggered outcry across the country and women took to the streets to denouncing the gruesome attack.

Daughters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Sumeyye Erdogan and Esra Albayrak, paid a visit to the victim’s mother in southern province of Tarsus to express their sympathies.
“She sacrificed herself to protect her honour. I want them to be sentenced with the heaviest penalty. My daughter didn’t deserve this,” Songul Aslan, mother of Ozgecan Aslan, told them with teary eyes.

Sumeyye Erdogan pledged to follow the case closely.

“We came here to share their pain. They are very honourable people. Our aim is to make sure that these monsters, these villains would pay the heaviest price for what they did. We will follow this closely,” she told reporters after the visit.
Turkey ranked 120th of 136 nations in the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Gender Gap Index, down 15 places since 2006, while a 2011 U.N. report indicated domestic violence rates were almost twice those in the United States, and ten times higher than in some European countries.

Story compiled with information from Reuters and AFP.