MEDINE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – Women living in Northern Kurdistan have carried out many works in the region for days to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, November 25. Members of the Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad -TJA) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have held many awareness-raising meetings in villages, districts and cities. On November 25, they will hold a torch march in Amed (Diyarbakır). Calling on women to participate in the march, Hasret Alp, a member of HDP Women’s Council, said, “We will resist this destructiveness without getting desperate.”

“Killing of women is sex-based crime”

Indicating that they define the increasing violence against women and killing of women as a sex-based crime, Hasret Alp said that the 19-year AKP government aims to build a monotype society by usurping women's rights and lives. Underlining that the ruling party is especially afraid of the organized women protecting their rights and lives, Hasret Alp said, “Every day, women are killed at home, on the streets or at workplaces for being women. The killers of women go unpunished due to the immunity policy while the women such as Çilem Doğan who killed abusive men in self-defense are given prison sentences. Democratic Society Congress (DTK) Co-Chair Leyla Güven and TJA Spokeswoman Ayşe Gökkan have been held in prison because they are organized and resistant women.”

“The government wants to leave Kurdish women breathless”

Emphasizing that the government tries to make the Kurdish women weak with its special war policies imposed in the region against women's struggle, Hasret Alp stated that women are drifted into prostitution due to these policies. “We, as Kurdish women, will struggle against these policies imposed in the region. The government also wants to leave Kurdish women breathless by detaining and arresting them. In addition, the current government takes the people away from economic, social and cultural life. The government has carried out policies ignoring the language, identity and existence of the Kurdish people,” Hasret Alp told NuJINHA.

“We will build a new and free life”

Hasret Alp called on all women to participate in the torch march to be held in Amed on November 25. “We, as organized women, will be the voice of our friends who are imprisoned like Mirabal Sisters against the ruling party targeting everyone, who speaks out against the withdrawal of the Istanbul Convention. We will resist this destructiveness without getting desperate and we will march with the spirit of Mirabal sisters. We will build a new and free life together.”