Anti-femicide group goes on trial in Turkey, hundreds of women gather in support

We Will Stop Femicide Platform, a popular Turkish anti-femicide group went on trial in Istanbul on Wednesday, having been accused of unlawful activities. If convicted, the group could be shut down.

Protesters outside the court waved banners bearing slogans such as "You will never walk alone!" and "We will stop women's murders", alongside the families of women murdered by men.

Hundreds of women rallied outside the court in Istanbul in support of women.

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Ipek Bozkurt, the lawyer for We Will Stop Femicide Platform, said femicides were "political" -- and so was the lawsuit.

"This is a move against the platform which strongly condemned the withdrawal from the Istanbul convention.

Therefore in our defence, we will explain to the judges why this case lacks legal grounds," she said.

Almost 300 lawyers from across Turkey expressed an interest in defending the group.

Femicide is the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender. We Will Stop Femicide group has been working in order to raise awareness for this issue since 2010.

Aysun Kilic, from the bar association in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, said We Will Stop Femicide was conducting a careful, up-to-date study about murdered women."This is actually the duty of the state," she told AFP.

"While this is the case, we find the lawsuit unlawful, dangerous for women's rights and an attempt to undermine a study on women's killings. This case is harming us and our fight for women's rights," she said.

Social conservatives in Turkey believe that the We Will Stop Femicide group supports homosexuality and works against traditional family values.

Melek Onder, another spokesperson of the group, remained defiant. "This legal action empowers us rather than weakens us," she told AFP.

"It's impossible to shut down this platform when women are still becoming victims of femicide," she said."We are not desperate at all because we know that they cannot stop our struggle."

[ With inputs from agencies]

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