MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Dersim-The 22nd Munzur Culture and Nature Festival held in Dersim with the motto, “We will not allow our nature and our will to be usurped” on July 25-28. Many issues such as beliefs, mother tongue and women's issues were discussed at the panels and seminars organized at the festival. At the festival, women held a march with enthusiasm.

Chanting the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Women, Life, Freedom)” slogan, the women drew attention to the problems faced by them in Dersim. NuJINHA spoke to the women who participated in the march.

Gülistan Doku is just one of the cases

Since Gülistan Doku went missing in January 2020, many incidents of harassment and violence involving police, soldiers and other public officials have taken place in the city and these incidents resulted in impunity. The number of drug use in the city is on the rise due to special war policies targeting women in all spheres of life. The women of Dersim call on all women to organize and protect them against such policies.

 ‘We must organize ourselves everywhere’

Women and young people in Dersim are targeted through economy and ethnic identity, said Sevim Şaylı, one of the women of Dersim. Noting that young people in the city are lured to use drugs and subjected to violence and harassment and they face policies to be spies, Sevim Şaylı said, “Women are subjected to the policy of harassment and violence all around the world. But in Dersim, women are subjected to special war policies; attacks over our ethnic identity and beliefs. Women should be in solidarity with each other and organize themselves against such policies. Local governments and government agencies should take action against this situation. NGOs play an important role in raising awareness.”

‘Unorganized women are lured quicker’

      

‘The state aims to do what it could not do with tanks and weapons by using such policies,” Sevim Şaylı said, adding, “The first targets of such policies are women and young people. Women are the most affected by the current economic crisis; they suffer from unemployment. Unorganized women are lured quicker by these policies. The state aims to lure people by implementing different policies. An empire of fear has been established in this city. Such policies also target young people. The number of drug use among young people is on the rise. Most young people want to live abroad. Those who cannot go abroad start using drugs. All organizations must raise awareness against such policies  because young people and women are our future. Such policies aim to destroy our future.”

‘We voices and discussed the attacks against us’

Evrim Konak, one of the women participating in the festival, called on all people to organize and be in solidarity with each other against special war policies carried out in the city. “Women across the country experience what women in Dersim experience. At the festival, we voiced and discussed the attacks against us. The nature, culture, mother language and women of Dersim are subjected to oppression, violence and exploitation. As a women’s platform, we aim to raise our voices by organizing panels and marches. Despite all the attacks, we will continue to raise our voices. As women, we will strengthen solidarity. We call on all women to stand shoulder to shoulder in the streets and to raise their voices against these policies.”

‘Women should be organized to defend their freedoms’

In an interview with NuJINHA, Aynur Turan talked about the increase in femicide cases in the country. “The killers are arrested and then released. The policy of impunity encourages them. Women should be organized to defend their rights and freedoms.”