WOMEN across the world were urged to rally in solidarity with their counterparts in Turkey today after police brutally attacked a demonstration opposing the country’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention and made at least 30 arrests.

Members of the Ankara Women’s Platform, a coalition of 30 women’s organisations, were set upon by Turkish security services in the capital on last night after they had gathered to protest at the attacks on women’s rights in the country.

At least 30 were detained as heavily armed officers waded into the protest, wielding batons and assaulting the women, many of whom required hospital treatment.

Fatma Kilicaslan, one of those detained, said they had been tortured by the police after refusing to be searched at the hospital.

“We have nothing to lose but our lives,” she told the Morning Star after being released.

“The arrests, tortures and detentions by the state do not frighten women. We are fighting for our lives. We are using our most legitimate right. We will remain on the streets until the state accepts this.”

Mass protests swept towns and cities across Turkey following the murder of Kurdish student Pinar Gultekin last month, the latest high-profile femicide in the country.

Her death sparked fury, with campaigners holding the government responsible for a rise in the murder of women and many of the killers escaping justice.

The We Will Stop Femicides Platform, a rights group monitoring violence against women, said that at least 474 were murdered last year. The real figure is believed to be much higher, since many cases go unreported.

Further outrage has been caused by the government’s plans to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, which obliges signatories to tackle gender-based crime, provide protection and services for women and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted.

Women’s rights organisations, trade unions and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party have described the treaty as a lifeline for women.

Human Rights Association Ankara branch spokeswoman Sevinc Kocak told the Morning Star: “In Turkey, women continue to be murdered by their fathers, sons, brothers, siblings, husbands, ex-husbands, lovers and men they refuse … Despite this, we find it difficult to punish the perpetrators.

“We have been shouting for years in the women's struggle that femicide is political, because all kinds of violence against women are driven by the policies of the state.

“We have a president [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] who says: ‘I do not believe in gender equality.’

“As long as we cannot change the system that produces sexist policies and feeds all kinds of inequality all over the world, we will continue to be exposed to violence.

“As long as the sexist discourse, division of labour and policies that feed gender inequality are not eliminated, femicide will continue to increase.”

Ms Kilicaslan and Ms Kocak both stressed the importance of international solidarity and the strength it brings to their struggle for women’s rights.

Ms Kocak insisted: “For a world that is equal, without violence and exploitation, we must fight together against all kinds of inequality wherever we are in the world … Long live women’s solidarity.”

The Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign launched a petition last month calling for the government to press Turkey to remain in the Istanbul Convention and urged unions and others to build solidarity links with women’s organisations there.