Türkiye - April 05, 2025 Protest marches were held in many cities in Türkiye due to the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu. In the protest that took place in Istanbul with the harsh intervention of the police, some women who were detained stated in their statements to the prosecutor's office that the police harassed them by squeezing their breasts. The women's statements about the harassment caused great reactions throughout Turkey, especially on social media. Türkiye has been talking about this issue for days. Feminists protested the sexual harassment of women in custody. Feminists gathered at Eminönü Pier and unfurled a long banner reading "Sexual harassment and strip searches in custody are torture. Torture is a crime! The perpetrators must be tried!" The slogans "End harassment and torture in custody" and "We are not silent, we are not afraid, we do not obey" were chanted frequently during the protest. The press release was read by Rüya Kurtuluş and Evrim Gürenin. 00:08:20 - 00:46:07 Rüya Kurtuluş: We are not silent. We will continue to be on the streets. We will continue to be on the streets for our lives, our future and our rights. We will also demand an account for this harassment and torture in custody. In the protests that started on March 19, while we were defending our rights, our cities, our will, our lives, our future and democracy, we were once again exposed to and witnessed the sexual violence and mistreatment of the police and the failure of doctors in health institutions to record this. 00:57:10 - 02:05:04 Rüya Kurtuluş: A young woman who was detained stated the following in her statement: "When I was being taken to be handcuffed, he said, 'I will beat you' and took me to the back of the ambulance. A male police officer, who had a beard, a moustache, colored eyes and was tall, around 1.85-1.90, touched my breasts and asked, "Do you have breasts?" I wet myself at that moment. During the medical examination, the female police officer said, 'If you want to get out of here quickly and have the procedures done, don't give us a hard time.' When we went to the doctor, there was a female police officer with us, I was scared and didn't tell her I had been beaten. The doctor didn't examine me. Before we went to the detention center, I told the blonde female officer that I had been harassed. The female officer mockingly made fun of me by saying, 'Hmmmm, have you been harassed?'" 02:20:06 - 02:42:23 Rüya Kurtuluş: Another woman said the following in her statement: "I was detained with handcuffs behind my back. We were handcuffed behind my back on the bus and in the hospital the whole time, this process lasted more than 8 hours. We were searched naked by a blonde-haired female police commissioner. There was a search where my underwear was removed and my chest and breasts were touched. I am making a complaint." 02:57:04 - 03:45:26 Evrim Gürenin: We feminists are calling out from the streets of Istanbul to the Istanbul Police Department and the prison officers: Swearing at women and LGBTI+ individuals in a sexist manner, threatening to rape them, is sexual harassment and a crime. Cornering women and LGBTI+ individuals alone and touching their breasts and bodies is sexual assault and a crime. Your job is to prevent men who do this at home, on the street, at work, anywhere, or attempt to do this; not to be one of them. You are the institution that women are expected to turn to when they are harassed. You may have forgotten this, but we have not. 04:10:14 - 04:45:10 Evrim Gürenin: Strip searches conducted illegally in detention and prison are sexual torture. Sexual torture is a crime. The fact that the perpetrator is in uniform, claims to be doing it on behalf of the state, and calls it a "routine practice" does not change this fact. We ask: Did you receive an order to "harass women and LGBTI+ individuals, corner them and touch them, utter profanities threatening rape, and strip naked"? Who gave you these orders?