MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed- The Mesopotamia Women’s Journalists Association (MWJA) was founded in Amed (Diyarbakır) on October 7, 2023, Kurdish Women Journalists Day. The association, the first women journalists association in Türkiye, aims to change gendered language in media and to be solidarity with all women journalists. In an interview with NuJINHA, journalist Safiye Alagaş, a member of the MWJA, called on all women journalists to be in solidarity with the association and to attend the activities of the association.

According to the report released by the Mesopotamia Women’s Journalists Platform, 10 women journalists were detained and five more women journalists were subjected to violence while doing journalism in Türkiye in the last three months. “Hundreds of women journalists became unemployed when many press outlets were closed down by an emergency decree in Türkiye in 2016. We formed a platform named Mesopotamia Women Journalists Platform to be in solidarity with women journalists. The platform is still active. In recent years, we understood that we, as women journalists, needed an association. After discussions, we founded the Mesopotamia Women’s Journalists Association with the support of dozens of women,” said Safiye Alagaş.

‘We will be the voices of women journalists’

Pointing to the challenges faced by women journalists, Safiye Alagaş said, “Our association will always be in solidarity with women journalists and expose violence against women journalists. One of our goals is to change the gendered language in the media. We will organize workshops, seminars and other activities for women journalists to discuss how we can change this language. We will be the voices of women journalists against rights violations such as violence and judicial harassment.”

‘Women are pornified by media’

Safiye Alagaş also talked about how gendered language in the media affects society. “Women are pornified by the media. We must change this gendered language in the media to ensure gender equality in society.” Calling on all women journalists to be in solidarity with them, Safiye Alagaş said, “Now, women journalists have a home. The door of our association is open for all women journalists. Our association is the first women journalists’ association in Türkiye. Our association is based in Amed (Diyarbakır). We call on all women journalists to be in solidarity with us and attend our workshops and seminars to change the gendered language in the media so that we can show that women have power in the media.”