MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed - Mesopotamia Migration Monitoring and Research Association and Association of Middle East Cinema Academy started a project named TitulaARTS in Diyarbakır with the support of two NGOs in Barcelona. The TitulaARTS literally means accessing rights through art. The objective of the project provides psycho-social support for women and children affected by the Syrian civil war. The project will last for one year and it aims to reach a total of 96 Arab and Kurdish women.

Workshops for refugee women and children

Felek Fidan, the assistant of the project, spoke to JINHA about the TitulaARTS project. She informed us that their workshops have been already started. The Association of Middle East Cinema Academy has organized workshops for children while the Mesopotamia Migration Monitoring and Research Association has organized workshops for women within the scope of the project.

“The project will last for one year”

Felek Fidan stated that they aim to reach 96 Kurdish and Arab women within the scope of the one-year project. The association will hold 2-month workshops in a year. “Our most basic principle by holding these workshops is to transfer a gender perspective on the basis of gender equality through an interactive communication that encourages active participation. Our methodology is to keep holding workshops by organizing various activities.

“Women are the worst affected by wars”

“Women and children are the worst affected by wars,” Felek Fidan said that wars have psychological, physical, and economic effects on women. “Many national and international studies prove that the Syrian civil war and conflicts have a negative effect on the private lives of people, particularly on the lives of women. Women have difficulties accessing their basic rights due to the trauma they have been through. They don’t know where they can apply when they are subjected to violence. The problems they have faced in places they immigrated make their lives more difficult. The statistics show that gender-based violence has increased and women have been negatively affected by this situation.”

“Women will share their problems during the workshops”

The association has been organizing workshops to inform women about their health and to raise awareness of women about their rights. “We aim to raise awareness of women about their rights and give them necessary information about their health that will improve women's living conditions. We also aim to increase health awareness so that women participating in the workshops will know their bodies, fertility better; they will develop basic knowledge and skills about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum periods. Within the scope of combating gender-based violence, we also organize workshops on gender and rights.”

“Women share the information they get from the workshops with other women”

The workshops create a safe space for women to share what they have suffered from. “We hear many life stories that were affected by the war. During the workshops, we can clearly see that the stories belong to different women but what they have faced is actually the same.  We have met women, who have faced poverty and violence in addition to the negative effects of the war. But we become a hope for these women. Women share the information they get from the workshops with other women,” Felek Fidan said.

“We will prepare a report”

The associations will prepare a report after holding workshops for a year. Felek Fidan talked about this process and she said, “We will spend time with 96 women for a year. At the end of the year, we will conduct a survey with these women. We will collect the data in a report and share it with the public opinion. Our workshops are now on their 7^th week.”