JINHA

ANKARA - After women in Paris intervened to name street names after women this week, the action has spread to the Turkish capital of Ankara.

In Paris, just 2.6% percent of streets bear women's names. Most of those streets that are named after women bear the names of the wives or daughters of famous men. The feminist group Osez le Féminisme announced that they will be renaming 60 streets after women artists, scientists, activists and politicians. On Wednesday, the women started changing street names, naming them after people like physicist Lise Meitner, writer Assia Djebar and artist Nina Simone.

In Turkey's capital of Ankara, the Nar Women's Solidarity Network has taken up the direct action in their own city. They have so far renamed streets after women like Nevin Yıldırım, serving a life sentence for killing her rapist; Ekin Wan, the woman guerrilla tortured and displayed by Turkish police; sociologist Pınar Selek, framed for a bombing for her political activism; and artist Pippa Bacca, who was raped and killed in Turkey while taking part in a women's performance art action to promote peace.

(fk/cm)