In several cities in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan, women’s and LGBTIQ+ organizations have filed criminal charges against sexist and racist attacks on Kurdish politician Leyla Zana. The trigger was a Bursaspor soccer game, during which groups of fans in the stands deliberately insulted the former member of parliament with organized chants. The slogans were later spread on social media and actively supported by far-right actors, including politicians from right-wing parties.
From the podium to social media
The women’s initiative “I Need Peace” and regional women’s platforms declared at simultaneous press conferences in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Van, and Urfa that these were not isolated incidents, but rather a targeted politically sexist mobilization against Zana as a symbolic figure of Kurdish women’s politics.
In Ankara, activist Leman Kiraz said that 116 organizations had signed the criminal complaints that had been filed. She pointed to national shared responsibility due to the state authorities turning a blind eye. Citing the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), which has only fined Bursaspor 16,000 TL (equivalent to around 300 euros), she said that this was a sign of trivialization.
“It’s not just a verbal attack. It’s an attack on a woman, on a Kurdish woman, on a political identity, and thus on all of us,” said Kiraz. The perpetrators, she said, deliberately promote hatred and division by sexualizing female bodies. Journalist Gözde Şeker, who publicly criticized the attacks, was also defamed on social media, including references to her private life, the activist noted.
Solidarity and legal action in several cities
In Izmir, Van, Urfa, and Istanbul, women’s alliances held vigils in front of courthouses and collectively filed criminal complaints. “Leyla Zana is not alone,” they said loudly, accompanied by slogans such as “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom) or “Women are not the battlefield of war.”
In Van, Meryema Aslan from the Star Women’s Association said that they would not allow sexist attacks to become acceptable as a means of political escalation. The systematic combination of racist, chauvinistic, and sexist hatred aims to undermine both Kurdish women and social cohesion, she underlined.
An attack on peace and equality
Many speakers linked the attacks to the general political climate: “When a woman becomes a target, it is usually the first step toward escalation,” explained a spokeswoman in Urfa. “That is the patriarchal side of war, and that is precisely why we are fighting for peace.”
Women’s organizations are now calling for the perpetrators to be identified and prosecuted, clear sanctions against the sports clubs involved, public distancing by politicians and associations, and a fundamental debate about sexism in public spaces and hate speech in sports.