Here’s why Turkish men are wearing skirts to Taksim Square

Enough is enough.

That’s the message from thousands of Turkish women — and some men — who have taken to the streets and social media in recent days to protest over the brutal murder of a female university student.

Ozgecan Aslan, a 20-year-old university student in the southern province of Mersin disappeared  on Wednesday. Her burned and battered body was discovered in a riverbed two days later.

Three men — a 26-year-old minibus driver, his father and a friend — have been arrested.

Tragically, Aslan’s death is not an isolated incident in Turkey where violence against women is “entrenched” in the country's culture, according to Human Rights Watch.

Independent Turkish press agency Bianet has compiled figures showing at least 27 women died at the hands of men in January alone.

In 2014, at least 281 women were killed by men, 31 percent more than the previous year.

The particularly shocking details of Aslan’s death have ignited outrage across the country and fueled demands for an end to violence against women. 

Such is the level of anger that there have been calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty — something Aslan's father has opposed — and even castration.

So far the circumstances of the woman’s grisly death are based on police interviews with the suspects that have been leaked to local media. 

According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Aslan was attacked last Wednesday by a 26-year-old minibus driver, who stabbed her and then beat her over the head with an iron bar after she resisted his attempts to rape her.

It gets worse:

He confessed that he cut off Aslan’s hands while she was still alive and put them in an unused toilet at his father’s house. Another friend then brought along gasoline to use in order to burn Aslan, the report said.

Afterwards the three men allegedly dumped Aslan's body in a riverbed.

Many in Turkey and beyond have taken to Twitter to express their anger at the murder and the high rate of violence against women. The hashtags “OzgecanAslan and #Sendeanlat (tell your story) have been among the top trending topics worldwide for days. 

Turkish leaders have also acknowledged the gravity of the problem, with President Recep Tayyip Erodgan saying Monday that "violence against women is the bleeding wound of our country." 

In 2012 the government introduced new laws to protect women against violence and activists are now calling for even tougher legislation. But clearly it is going to take a lot more than a few laws to alter the attitudes of many men in Turkey.

To that end, some men are posting photos of themselves wearing skirts on Twitter in a show of solidarity with women ahead of a "skirt-wearing men" protest in Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square on Saturday.