Declaration against termination of Istanbul Convention: Kurdish woman’s objection  

2021-07-27 12:32:55


	 

	DİYARBAKIR - Women who made evaluations on the "Declaration Against the Termination of the Istanbul Convention" prepared against the annulment of the Istanbul Convention and on regional problems, pointed out that especially in the region, special war policies are carried out through women.

	 

	Women continue their struggle for the Istanbul Convention, which was completely abolished as of July 1 with the decree issued by President Tayyip Erdoğan. Under the leading of Van Star Women's Association, Rosa Women's Association and Urfa Women's Life House, a petition was launched against the termination of the convention and to draw attention to the problems faced by Kurdish women. The “Declaration Against the Termination of the Istanbul Convention” campaign, signed by 129 non-governmental organizations, was announced to the public on July 1.

	 

	Organization representatives who signed the declaration spoke to our agency.

	 

	‘The text of the Kurdish woman’s objection’

	 

	Stating that they carried out many works with women's organizations in Turkey from March 20, when the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention was announced, and until July 1, when the annulment took effect, Rosa Women's Association Chairpersom Adalet Kaya said: ‘’The HDP Women's Council and Bar Associations applied to the Council of State for annulment. No one applied as a women's organization in Kurdistan. That's why we applied as an association. Since we think that a text is needed in which Kurdish women can express their objections, Van Star Women's Association, Urfa Women's Life House and we created a declaration and opened it to non-governmental organizations and professional organizations in the region. We got serious support. There is a case of being exposed to multiple violence due to intersectional identity, there should be a document showing this.’’

	 

	‘We reflected our work in the declaration’

	 

	Stating that citizens died because they could not receive service in their mother tongue, uniformed public officials and military forces committed violence, harassment and rape against women, and the declaration drew attention to these, Adalet continued as: ‘’We are exposed to violence not only because of our gender, but also because of our Kurdish identity. Every issue we reflect in the declaration is an indispensable field of struggle for us. Violence is intense all over Kurdistan. We will continue to fight against it.’’

	 

	‘Attacks against gains continue’

	 

	Drawing attention to the 4th Judicial Package, Adalet stated that crimes against women and children were legitimized and legal remedies were closed. Emphasizing that this is a grave situation, Adalet said: ‘’Now we hear that they have started working on the Law No. 6284. They will not stop, they continue their attacks on all gains. We do not give up fighting. None of the decisions taken are separate from each other. They legitimize everything first and then bring legal regulations.’’

	‘The order works differently in Kurdistan’

	 

	Saying that women contributed to the signing of the Istanbul Convention, Free Women’s Movement (TJA) activist Zeynep Üren said: ‘’The state does not accept women to stand on their own feet. Women are killed. In this order, it allows and strengthens the man. They constantly find reasons for killing women. AKP's rhetoric encourages women to commit suicide. The order in Kurdistan works differently. AKP-MHP shows their misogyny by murdering women by citing the gendarmes and soldiers. Just like the specialist sergeant's killing of İpek Er, similar news come out every day in Şırnak, Hakkari and Van. The solution is in the hands of women. The solution is to escalate the struggle. It became clear what they wanted to do to young women in the person of Gülistan.’’

	 

	‘They do not want women to have alternatives’

	 

	Expressing that a systematic war is being waged against the Kurds, Zeynep pointed out that although the Rosa Women's Association is an association for the defense of women's life, many cases have been opened against them. Saying that the reason for this is political and regional, Zeynep said: ‘’After the trustees came to the municipality, they closed the institutions where women went. They do not accept that women have an alternative, so they attack it. We signed this declaration to draw attention to the attacks on women and to reveal the truth. We will carry out our work by visiting house by house, village by village, neighborhood by neighborhood. Wherever we go, the situation is not good. Femicides go unpunished. When it comes to Kurdish women, they leave it in the dark. Kurdish women have a lot of labor in the struggle, so a voice needs to be raised against the attacks made today. We are not taking a step back. With this declaration, we draw attention to the femicides in Kurdistan.’’

	 

	‘Women’s rights must be protected in a war atmosphere’

	 

	Fatma Yıldızhan, the Women’s Secretary of the Health and Social Service Workers’ Union (SES) Diyarbakır Branch, drew attention to the fact that we are going through a war process that deeply affects women and children. Fatma said, “Just as we emphasize that women's rights should be protected in normal processes, we also state that women's rights should be protected in a war atmosphere. The declaration emphasizes exactly this. Because it is necessary to prevent the postponement of women's identity stemming from the war atmosphere. That's why there isn't a lot of work done. None of the articles of the Istanbul Convention have been implemented so far, but its existence was a guarantee for women. The Istanbul Convention was to put the struggle of women on a legal basis. It would be naive to expect women to give up the struggle by withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. Because the struggle of women has spread all over the world. Reactions to the abolition of the Istanbul Convention, not only from Turkey, but from all over the world, have come and continue to come.”

	 

	‘Women fighting together’

	 

	Pointing to the 129 signatures in the declaration, Fatma stated that the women's struggle is wide-ranging and that it is an indication of how great the struggle of women against the male-state mind is. Fatma said: ‘’Women come together and struggle regardless of race, language or religion. I would like to state that violence against women is not only in Turkey but all over the world and that women will never give up the fight against it. I believe that all institutions will do their best in terms of women's struggle. With the de facto-legitimate struggle women give, the legal ground will of course be created. There is no world where women's rights will be taken away by men, women will get all their rights in return.’’