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Ozgecan Aslan
Here's why Turkish men are protesting while wearing mini skirts
Speaking out against violence.
GROUPS OF TURKISH men have donned miniskirts after the death of a young woman following an alleged attempted rape.
Ozgecan Aslan (20) was reported to have been killed after resisting attempts to rape her.
Her body was discovered in a riverbed in southern Turkey, three days after she was reported missing.
Her death led to protests and rallies in Turkey by women who chanted slogans like “You will never walk alone!”.
Three suspects were detained over Aslan’s death.
Miniskirt protest
Now some men have protested while wearing miniskirts, in an effort to further the national debate about violence against women.
Some men have taken part in street protests, while others have expressed their solidarity by sharing photos online of themselves in skirts.
The hashtag being used to share the photos is #ozgecanicinminietekgiy, which BBC trending says roughly translates to “wear a miniskirt for Ozgecan”.
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The hashtag appears to have originated on Wednesday.
Writing in the Guardian, Elif Shafak said that Aslan’s tragic murder has galvanised women in a country “where patriarchy runs deep”.
She described carrying pepper spray in her bag, or safety pins to poke molesters with.
The protests also come at a time when the top man in Turkey has come under fire for sexist comments.
Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan was criticised last November for saying that feminists reject motherhood, and that men and women cannot be treated equally “because it is against human nature”.
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