News Center- The Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) has been holding a women’s workshop on local administrations in the city of Van. All female Co-mayors of the DEM Party have participated in the two-day workshop.

“We did not achieve these gains easily. We resist in a period when Kurdish women are targeted by dirty policies,” Neslihan Şedal, Co-mayor of the Van Metropolitan Municipality, said in the opening speech of the workshop. “Kurdish women have shown strong will against these policies. We will make important decisions here. Our philosophy and our local government system have become a role model for the whole world. Kurdish women's resistance now offers a new system to the world; a system based on democracy, ecology and women’s freedom. We will turn our cities into women’s cities.”

‘Genocidal operations continue’

In her speech at the workshop, Halide Türkoğlu, Spokesperson of the DEM Party Women’s Council, mentioned the insistence on leaving the Kurdish question unsolved and the aggravated isolation imposed on Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. “Those who insist on war policies instead of finding a democratic solution to the Kurdish question continue to carry out genocidal operations. The aggravated isolation imposed in the prison island of Imrali deepens fascism in the country. Today, Kurdish people are subjected to many oppressive policies telling them what they should wear, which language they should speak, how to dance halay and how they should express their condolences.”

‘The language of the Kurdish people cannot be considered a crime’

Pointed to the detention and arrest of people for dancing halay to Kurdish music, Halide Türkoğlu said, “The language and culture of the Kurdish people cannot be criminalized or considered a crime.”

‘We are a role model for the Middle East and Türkiye’

The Co-presidency system and equal representation are indispensable, DEM Party Co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları said in her speech at the workshop, stressing that they have become a role model for the Middle East and Türkiye with 78 female co-mayors.

“We have to be always successful because the patriarchal and authoritarian mindset shows itself in all facets of life whenever it feels that women's movement is weakening. Our struggle has to be always active and this is very important. I think that you, as elected co-mayors, have the greatest responsibility and duty to keep this struggle active because you represent the will of the people, the will of women.”

‘We will continue to speak our mother tongue

In her speech, Tülay Hatimoğulları also mentioned the detention and arrest of people for dancing halay to Kurdish music.

“We want to tell the government once again that we will continue to speak our mother tongue, sing our songs, dance halay and dream in our mother tongue. Nothing can prevent us from speaking our mother tongue. Banning the language of nearly 30 million people is unacceptable.”