Turkish court acquits ‘Las Tesis’ protestors after four years

Duvar English

An Izmir court on Dec. 6 acquitted the 24 women tried for “insulting the Turkish government” and defying the Law on Protests and Public Meetings as they took part in the 2019 “Las Tesis” protests in Turkey’s Aegean Izmir Province. 

The so-called Las Tesis protests originated in Chile in 2019, where feminists sang a song that accused the government alongside the patriarchy of remaining ineffective in the face of violence against women. 

Feminist organizations like the “We Will Stop Femicides” Platform and the Women’s Parliament Struggle Against Violence group observed the final hearing of the case. 

The prosecutor requested the women’s acquittal based on “lacking evidence,” whereas the defendants’ lawyers requested acquittal as “the basis of offense did not occur.” 

The court ruled to acquit the women with the justification that the basis of the offense did not occur. 

The defense lawyers made a press statement in front of the courthouse after the final verdict. They said that they found it ironic that the courts tried women who fought against violence whereas the perpetrators of the violence remained free.  

The lawyers stated that every party involved knew that there was no basis for offense, but the case was an intimidation effort on the general public that wanted to say, “You will be on trial just like them if you exercise your freedom of expression, thought, or meeting and protesting.”

Ayşe Özdemir, the head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)'s women's branch president for the western province of Aydın was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison for organizing a “Las Tesis” protest with similar charges back in 2021. 

At the time, the protests spread around the world and found resonance in the feminist groups in Turkey, where the Turkish iteration of the choreography was performed in various cities.