MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

 Amed-The Women’s Association for Culture, Art and Literature (KASED) has provided artistic activities for women and children since it was founded in Amed (Diyarbakır) in 2021 with the motto, “Art is for everybody”. Organizing music, painting, language and literature and Jineology workshops, the association has reached hundreds of women and children so far.

NuJINHA spoke to Saliha Ayata, one of the Kurdish-language teachers of the KASED, about the purpose and activities of the association. “The association was founded by seven women to support women in art,” she said, adding that the association moved its headquarters from Amed’s Rezan (Bağlar) district to the district of Sur. “We achieved our goals in Rezan and now we aim to achieve our goals in Sur by reaching more women and children.”

‘We are here to be an alternative’

“We are here to be an alternative and support women, who are interested in art and want to become artists,” she said. “We opened the association for Kurdish women who want to develop or discover their talents in the field of art. We first carried out our activities for women and children in Bağlar.  We organized many courses for them and reached hundreds of women and children in the district.”

‘We were first welcomed by women and children’

After the association moved its headquarters to Sur, the heart and memory of the city, the members of the association were first welcomed by women and children.

“The reality of this city is these streets and the stories in Sur. Since we moved our headquarters to the district, the residents have visited us and asked questions about our courses. We are planning to provide music, art, language, dance and instrument courses.to women and children. We also decided to provide an amigurumi course to mothers.”

‘We can organize more activities together’

The courses of the association will start next week. “I call on all women and young people to organize more activities together. Everyone should attend our courses,” she said. The association also provides a course about Kurdish novels. “We read Kurdish novels, discuss them and write essays. We are excited about our courses to start next week. We aim to reach all women and children in a short time.”