Thousands protest in Turkey after woman's burned body is found in woodland

Ozgecan Aslan's burned body was found in woodland after she is alleged to have tried to resist a sexual assault by minibus driver Ahmet Suphi Altindoken who then stabbed and clubbed her to death, it is claimed.

Three people have been arrested in connection with Miss Aslan's death and protests have continued throughout Turkey for three days.

Her death has caused outrage in Turkey where women are frequently killed at the hands of violent men and are seen as having a lower status - a few recently inflamed by comments made by the Turkish president who said women were not equal to men.

Protesters took to the streets in their thousands bearing placards of Miss Aslan and Turkish women shared their stories of harassment and violence on Twitter using the hashtag #sendeanlat (you tell your story). 

Turkey's Family and Social Minister Aysenur Islam, the only woman in the cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, said the death penalty should be reinstated for the perpetrators. 

She said: 'Not as a minister, but as a mother and woman, I think punishment for such crimes can be the death sentence... We can put it on our agenda.'  

A number of people changed their Facebook profile pictures to images of the student and women have pictured themselves wearing black shrouds in tribute to the 20-year-old. 

Protesters have been seen in Istanbul and Ankara for the last three days protesting against Miss Aslan's murder.  

Miss Aslan was reported missing on Wednesday evening in Tarsus. 

According to reports the 20-year-old was the only passenger left in a minibus driven by Altindoken, who allegedly changed the route of the bus when the other passengers got off and attempted to rape her.

When she resisted him and used pepper spray he is said to have killed her. 

Altindoken is then accused of returning to Tarsus to find his father Necmettin Altindoken and friend Fatih Gokce to help him dispose of her body, Anatolia news agency reported. All three are being held at different detention centres in Turkey. 

They are alleged to have burned the body in a wooded area in a bid to hide the evidence but the corpse was found by police on Friday. 

(dailymail.co.uk)