IN A brutal operation by the state, armed police attacked women protesting in defence of the Istanbul Convention in the Turkish capital Ankara and other cities on Saturday, with scores arrested.

They had taken to the streets in defence of women’s rights and in memory of Deniz Poyraz, the young Kurdish woman shot dead by a Turkish fascist at the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) provincial offices in Izmir on Thursday.

Riot police armed with machine guns blocked women as they gathered in Ankara, hauling a number into custody while preventing people from filming them under draconian new legislation that bars the recording of police and security officials.

One of the women who attended the demonstration said that police moved in on the crowds just minutes after the official starting time of 5.30pm.

“They took many of us under arrest, pinning people to the floor and against cars. We were protesting against plans to pull out of the Istanbul Convention and to stop violence against women.

“I was threatened when I tried to take photographs, but I managed to get away, unlike many of my friends,” she told the Morning Star.

The demonstrations, which were held in most major towns and cities across Turkey, came ahead of the formalisation of Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty aimed at combating violence against women.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an executive order on March 19 that began the process of pulling out of the treaty; formal ratification is expected on July 1 when further demonstrations are planned.

According to the We Will Stop Femicides Platform, at least 17 femicides were confirmed last month, with another 20 women dying in “suspicious circumstances.” 

This is likely to be a conservative estimate, the monitoring group says, as Turkey does not officially record femicide.

Many of the protesters held photos of Ms Poyraz, whose killing in the coastal city of Izmir last Thursday has led to accusations of a “political murder” and fears of a cover-up.

Onur Gencer was arrested for shooting the HDP member dead. He had posted photos of her dead body on social media before handing himself over to police.

According to the Mesopotamia Agency, the suspected killer contacted two people they named as Ogulcan Dincsever and Hande Iris by phone, but they have not been summoned to give statements.

Mr Gencer has been pictured in military uniform at Turkish military bases in northern Syria and making the salute of the neofascist Grey Wolves, a paramilitary organisation linked to Mr Erdogan’s junior partners in government, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

But critics fear that the state will move swiftly to ensure that the attack is treated as the act of a “lone wolf,” amid a growing belief that it was a targeted killing.

About 40 HDP officials had been scheduled to attend the offices that morning, but the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

A local taxi driver has reported that he had taken Mr Gencer to the HDP offices many times in recent weeks, suggesting he may have been monitoring the building.