MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed- Women work hard these days to make preparation for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, November 25. Planning to take to the streets across the country, women will protest the increasing gender-based violence and shout the women's struggle. Dilek Başaran, head of the Women’s Time Association (Turkish: Kadın Zamanı Derneği), said that women lead a struggle in the Middle East.

Pointing to the women’s resistance in Iran, Kurdistan and Turkey, Dilek Başaran noted that women resist all spheres of life by opposing the life that is imposed on them. Indicating that women in Turkey are also subjected to oppression and persecution in every sphere of life, Dilek Başaran said that women wage a struggle to survive besides poverty and violence. “We unite and work in order to survive,” she said.

‘Women organize against the system’

Dilek Başaran continued to talk as follows:

“We have waged a struggle against the state, which is a system that attacks women and forces them to usurp our rights in order to create a profile of being ‘reasonable’ women. We try to develop alternative ways and methods to protect our achievements and to gain new achievements. Women organize themselves against the system and take to the streets on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the International Women’s Day to make their voices heard.”

‘Violence has been institutionalized’

Stating that they, as women, discuss the increasing violence and how violence is institutionalized, Dilek Başaran said, “Whenever we ask where men get power from, the answer is always the state.” Dilek Başalan pointed out that while the police stations must be the first place for women to report violence against them, the police stations do not (cannot) give necessary support to women but encourage men. “This shows us that gender-based violence has been increasing and institutionalized. We should be aware of what is actually imposed on women through war discourses. Women are the most vulnerable in war and conflict situations. In war and conflict situations, women are forced to leave their countries; they are arrested and punished for demanding peace. The current mechanisms, which are supposed to build social peace, ignore social peace, prioritize war and cause violence to escalate.”

“We receive applications mostly about violence and demand for mother tongue”

The Women’s Time Association is a women’s association based in Istanbul. The association provides psychological and legal support to women victims of violence and language courses to women. Speaking about the applications to the association, Dilek Başaran said, “There are millions of Kurdish women living in Istanbul; however, there is no mechanism for women to express themselves in their mother tongue. Women mostly apply to the association to ask for psychological support. Women are marginalised both because of their gender and their national identity. Kurdish women are subjected to psychological violence for speaking their mother tongue. The number of divorce cases and domestic violence is also very high. We can say that we, as the association, provide the most psychological and legal support to women."

“We should take to the streets on November 25 against gender-based violence”

Calling on all women to take to the streets on November 25 with the motto, “We strengthen as we raise our voices”, Dilek Başaran said, “As women, we wage a common struggle, a struggle without borders. On November 25, women will unite not only in Turkey but also all around the world. We will take to the streets on November 25 to raise our voices against violence. Violence against women increases all over the world and we must raise our voices against it. We strengthen as we raise our voices.”