There is growing outrage in Turkey over the vicious rape and murder of a 20-year old University Student.  Critics say it’s not just another crime, but rather a festering example of how violence against women has become commonplace in the ten years since the ruling AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took power.

Last week, Ozgecan Aslan caught a bus from school to her home in the southern city of Mersin, towards the end of the line.  It’s believed she was the last passenger on the bus, and was left alone with the driver, his father and his friend.  Two days after her final bus ride, her burnt body was found in a ditch and the three men were arrested.  It’s believed Aslan resisted her attackers with pepper spray, but was stabbed and bashed on the head with an iron pipe. 

This has angered people in Turkey who’ve watched Erdogan and the AKP steadily move the country away from its secular foundations and towards Islamism.  Over the weekend, protesters marched through Turkey’s major cities, some getting arrested by police under orders from a government that tolerates less dissent with each passing day.

They don’t have a lot of faith in the system.  Government officials frequently “advise” women on when to go out and what to wear.  Perpetrators of rape and murder of women often get the minimum sentence due to “incitement” or “consent” by the victim, or “no psychological damage observed” on the victim.

According to the Erdogan government’s own figures, murders of women have increased 1,400 percent since the AKP came into power.