Ceyda Sungur, also known as Kırmızılı Kadın (
English: ''Woman in Red''), is a
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
academic and
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
.
Life
She was born in 1986. After completing her
bachelor's degree on
urban planning, she has started to work as a
research assistant at the
Istanbul Technical University.
Case of police brutality
In May 2013, she participated the
Gezi Park protests in
Istanbul as rioter and volunteer first-aider. During the demonstrations, she was attacked by a police officer named Fatih Zengin. When a photo journalist from the
Reuters—
Osman Orsal
Osman Orsal is a Turkish photo-journalist for the international news agency Reuters. Orsal resides in Istanbul, Turkey.
On 28 May 2013, Orsal covered the 2013 protests in Turkey, capturing an iconic set of images of the protests. The images show ...
—photographed the moment that Sungur was subject of the
police brutality
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...
, a huge reaction was sparked both in Turkish and international public. Following she became a symbol to the protests. Zengin was sued by prosecutors who pressed for a three-year prison sentence advertently for using
disproportionate force
Proportionality is a general principle in law which covers several separate (although related) concepts:
*The concept of proportionality is used as a criterion of fairness and justice in statutory interpretation processes, especially in const ...
against civilians. Sungur pleaded at the court that "if the accused had a weapon, he would have kill me like another police officer who had murdered
Ethem Sarısülük
Ethem Sarısülük (11 July 1986 – 14 June 2013) was an activist and worker who was killed by the police in Ankara during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. Sarısülük, who was seriously injured by police officer Ahmet Şahbaz during the Gezi Park p ...
". After a year, the trial was concluded and the Zengnin were sentenced to plant 600 saplings in consequence of that he sprayed tear gas at close range and abused his power. Moreover, another lawsuit had filed against Sungur on the charge of "inciting the public to disobey the law" was also dismissed.
In popular culture
Books
* Turkish-Italian film director
Ferzan Özpetek
Ferzan Özpetek (born 3 February 1959) is a Turkish-Italian film director and screenwriter, residing in Italy.
Biography
Ferzan Özpetek was born in Istanbul in 1959. In 1976, he decided to move to Italy to study Cinema History at Sapienza Unive ...
wrote a book named ''
Red Istanbul'' ("İstanbul Kırmızısı") by inspiring from the discources and image of the "Woman in Red".
*
Gürsel Öncü, who had been current editor of the "
Tarih" journal that was closed during the Gezi protests, wrote the book "Yaşarken Yazılan Tarih" and a picture of Ceyda Sungur & the police officer was used as the cover image.
Magazines
* Brazil centered culture journal "
Piauí
Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...
" gave place an illustration describing the "Woman in Red" holding the flag of Brazil as the cover image of the July 2013 issue in response to the
public uprisings in Brazil at the same time with the Gezi protests. Also, the "#direngezi" hashtag at bottom of the cover.
* Turkey based humour magazine "
Penguen" depicted the "Woman in Red" spraying pepper gas towards a police officer as the cover image of the July 2013 issue and released a caption that "The demonstrators attacked the police!". This work was shown among the 'most creative humor magazine covers of 2013'.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sungur, Ceyda
Living people
1986 births
Turkish activists
Academic staff of Istanbul Technical University
Gezi Park protests
Police brutality in Turkey