Hello dear coordinators,
As we leave behind March 8, International Labour Women’s Day, we salute this day of struggle when women across the world took to the streets in rebellion, raised their 
demands for equality and freedom, and courageously stood against the oppression of the ruling powers. The actions taking place on every continent, which we followed with great excitement, have given us strength.
As women from Turkey, we prepared for March 8 during some of the most intense days of the ongoing war in the Middle East. Thousands of women forced to live amidst war and poverty were also filled with anger at the ever-increasing number of femicides. In the final week leading up to March 8, femicides increased so dramatically that it became the last straw that pushed women to take to the streets.
Fatmanur Çelik, who had been forced into marriage as a child after being raped by Ayhan Şengüler, a leading figure of a reactionary religious organization called the “Foundation for Service to the Quran,” had been struggling for five years to expose the abuse committed by her daughter Hifa İkra’s biological father, Ayhan Şengüler, against their three-year-old child. She held sit-ins in front of the courthouse, stated for months that she was being threatened, and said, “They will kill me and claim I committed suicide. I will not commit suicide.” Despite warning that she might be killed before the court hearing scheduled for May 5, she was not protected. On the evening of March 2, the lifeless bodies of Fatmanur and her daughter Hifa were found in the sea. On the same day, a teacher named Fatma Nur Çelik was killed by a student at the school where she worked. Hours later, another woman, a mother, was murdered at the gate of the school where she had been waiting to pick up her child by the man she wanted to divorce. These murders created a wave of outrage that drove women to take to the streets on March 8 in strong and large numbers. Our March 8 preparations and calls were carried out through mass protests at the locations where these women were killed. In just the first two months of 2026, at least 70 women in Turkey were murdered by men.
Women are also fighting against deepening poverty and poor working conditions. Women workers are going on strike in factories, large supermarket chains, and various workplaces. In the period leading up to March 8, we reached many working women, particularly those participating in ongoing strikes and workers’ protests. We were intensively preparing to carry their voices into the March 8 demonstrations.
Under these conditions, March 8 was marked by powerful demonstrations in many cities across Turkey, especially in major cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Eskişehir, and Amed. In Istanbul, the work we carried out as the March 8 Women’s Platform organized a strong action: after a large march attended by thousands of women, we gathered for the “Great Women’s Assembly.” Thousands of women came together under the slogan: “Women are in revolt against poverty, violence, exploitation, and war!”
Throughout the march and demonstration, women and LGBTQI+ participants raised their enthusiasm with slogans, chants, and dances. Alongside the poverty, cost-of-living crisis, economic hardship, and violence imposed on women, participants also raised their voices against war. Women declared:
“Those who treat women’s bodies as spoils of war, who massacre peoples and attack children, continue their wars. While imperialists wage wars to redivide the world and its resources and the arms monopolies grow richer, people in Palestine, Rojava, Syria, and many other parts of the world are subjected to death, destruction, forced displacement, and hunger. As the murderous USA, imperialists, and their collaborators turn the entire Middle East into a sea of blood, they are now attacking Iran. We know that imperialists bring nothing but death and destruction to the peoples of the world. We know that the freedom of the peoples of the world lies in their own hands, in struggle. We stand with the struggle of Iranian women who have fought for years against the mullah regime and today against imperialist-Zionist aggression. Woman, Life, Freedom!”
The banners and slogans carried in the demonstration frequently emphasized our international struggle: “Iranian women are not alone!”, “A thousand greetings to the women resisting in Palestine!”, “Women’s solidarity crosses borders!”, and “A thousand greetings to the women fighting in Rojava!” were often heard. Attention was also drawn to Turkey’s role in imperialist wars. While Turkey claims to support Palestine, it continues its economic and political relations with Israel. While condemning Israel, it drops bombs on women and children in Rojava. By hosting the NATO summit in Ankara this July, it is preparing for its role in the war. All relations with Israel must be cut. Turkey must leave NATO. Imperialist military bases must be closed. “Leave NATO, close the bases!” were among the most concrete demands voiced in the statement.
The struggles of women resisting in Palestine, Rojava, Iran, and Afghanistan are our struggles. The struggle for women’s freedom is growing. In Afghanistan, despite death threats, women courageously march in the streets declaring, “The Taliban is our enemy!” These streets are the fronts of struggle where women across the world step forward, often at the risk of our lives, to win our freedom. Drawing strength from one another, we say: “Until all women in the world are free, none of us is free.” Our struggle is common: to build a new life out of war, destruction, poverty, and violence. Let us continue to nurture our dreams and struggle together to build a world where we will live equally and freely, a world we will create through socialism.
Long live March 8, the International Working Women’s Day of struggle against capitalism!