(Transcript from World News Radio)
Hundreds of thousands of women in Turkey have been participating in street protests in reaction to the horrific murder of a young woman.
Police discovered the burnt, mutilated body of Ozgecan Aslan in a riverbed in the town of Mersin, in Turkey's south.
And, as Erdem Koc reports, it's prompted an outcry across the entire country.
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(SFX of woman's voice)
That's the voice of an elderly Turkish lady, addressing the crowd of thousands gathered in the heart of the country's largest city, Istanbul.
If the government won't protect us, she says, we'll protect ourselves.
We'll arm ourselves with guns and stones, we'll attack the men, she says.
The woman's outcry is met by a passionate reaction from the attendees: thousands of females of all ages - from schoolchildren to the retired - all united by grief.
The grief is for 20-year-old Ozgecan Aslan, who was kidnapped on her way home on a minibus last week.
Police allege the driver tried to rape her.
She reportedly fought him off with pepper spray, but was then stabbed to death.
There are reports she was also hit on the head with an iron pipe.
The driver then allegedly sought the help of his father and a friend to get rid of the body, which they burnt.
All three men have been arrested.
Ms Aslan was buried in her hometown of Mersin on Valentine's Day.
Her mother says the family cannot comprehend the random nature of the crime.
(through translation) "That this happened as she was coming home on a minibus is beyond belief. Is this my daughter's only fault? Getting on a minibus to come home? I'm struggling to construct sentences."
The killing has prompted thousands of people to protest in Turkey's major cities to highlight the growing level of violence against women.
Twitter users have been posting their experiences with sexual harassment and assault with the hashtag, 'You Tell it Too'.
The experiences range from being verbally or physically assaulted on the street, to rape.
Cicek Tahaoglu is a reporter monitoring violence against women at online news service Bianet.
She says this latest case is quickly becoming a symbol of what many view as an ongoing epidemic in the country.
(through translation) "All women experience abuse in Turkey. I've experienced abuse, we all have. Violence towards women is a huge problem in Turkey. For example, from 2013 to 2014 we've seen an increase in female homicides by 30 per cent - and that's just measuring those reported in the media. One view as to why there's no proper statistics and reports on violence against women is because authorities don't want such figures to be released."
Media reports in Turkey suggest the murder rate of women has increased by 14-hundred per cent since 2002.
Last year alone, almost 300 women died violent deaths, with up to a third of them raped.
These are just the official figures - activists believe it to be much higher.
And some argue Turkey's current conservative government has exasperated the problem.
Fadik Temizyurek, is from the activist group, We Will Stop Homicides Platform.
She says the starting point to curbing the problem has to be in legislative change.
(through translation) "If punishments are of a deterrent nature, if protective services are efficient, only then can women at risk of violence be protected before they're killed. This is the government's responsibility. The emphasis is now on family - we have a Family Minister. There used to be a Minister for Women. And so now the place of women is seen within the boundaries of the family institution - not as a separate entity."
Last year, Turkey was ranked 125th of 142 countries of the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index.
The United Nations meanwhile has found a strong tendency in all of Turkey's provinces to relate the concept of 'honour' with women, women's sexuality and the control of women.
Cicek Tahaoglu says Turkey is a 'men's state' and unless that changes, the stats won't improve.
But she's hopeful this case might act as a catalyst for that change.
(through translation) "What's been significant since the murder of Ozgecan Aslan is men questioning the concept of manhood, or masculinity. This concept that feminists have been talking about for hundreds of years is now being questioned by society as a whole because of this particular case."
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