MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

 Van- Many municipalities that were occupied by the government through trustees were taken back by the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) in the local elections held in Türkiye and Kurdistan on March 31. The first thing that the municipalities held by the DEMP Party was to reactivate women’s organizations closed down by state-appointed trustees in the cities in order to form women’s cities by meeting the demands of women and creating employment for women.

One of these municipalities is the Rêya Armûşê (İpekyolu) Municipality of Van. The municipality has created employment for a dozen women by opening “Women’s City Garden” in the İpekyolu district of Van. The municipality supports women working in the garden that opened on Mothers’ Day, the second Sunday of May, by giving them land and seeds to plant, grow vegetables. The women working in the garden have begun to harvest their vegetables. Women working in the garden achieve their independent economy and support their families by selling these vegetables and they give some of the vegetables to those in need.

‘We aim to open gardens in other neighborhoods’

We have many other projects for women, said Nurcan Kayar, a council member of the Rêya Armûşê Municipality.

‘This is the first women’s garden opened by the municipality. It was actually a present of the municipality to mothers on Mothers’ Day. We realized this project so that women can work and produce with a common spirit of solidarity. Our aim is to create more employment opportunities for women. Each woman has her own space in the garden. Mothers plant, grow and harvest vegetables to make canned vegetables for winter and earn a living. We aim to open gardens in other neighborhoods. We have many projects to create more employment opportunities for women in the district. Some mothers sell their vegetables while some give them to people in need.”

‘It has become a source of income’

“This project has inspired many women like me,” said Sebiha Yakut, one of the women working in the garden. “We come to the garden in the morning and water the vegetables until evening. We get what we produce. The garden has become a source of income for us. I used to stay at home all day but now I work and earn a living. All women working in the garden are in solidarity with each other. We thank the municipality for opening this garden for us.”

 Sebiha Yakut thinks that many projects should be developed to create employment for women. “We love our garden and plan to use it differently in winter. We grow and collect vegetables and then make canned vegetables for winter. The prices of vegetables are very high but we do not need to spend money to buy vegetables now. We use some of the vegetables to make canned vegetables and give others to women in need.”