MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed – On November 29, 22 activists of the Free Women’s Movement (Kurdish: Tevgera Jinên Azad –TJA) were detained in home raids as part of an investigation based in Ankara for their activities in 2011. While eight of them were sent to prison, 14 women were released on the condition of not leaving their residences. Many react to the arrest of the women just before the general elections in the country, saying, “We know very well the aim of the arrest.”

‘A special policy is carried out against women’

Lawyer Ruşen Seydaoğlu, an editor of the Jineology Magazine, told us that they once again saw the hostile policies carried out against women when women faced violence in custody. “The detained women were kept in the bus for hours and they could not meet their basic needs. This shows the special policy carried out against women. Kurdish women have faced such inhuman practices for years. But they did not give up struggling and they will never give up.”

‘The aim is to prevent women from struggling’

Underlining that the aim of the detention is to prevent women from struggling, Ruşen Seydaoğlu said, “There is a never-ending and ongoing women’s struggle. Women face judicial harassment. The aim of the detention is also to show every activity of women as a crime. Women always have a strong response to such policies; they always struggle.”

‘We will keep struggling’

Emphasizing that they will keep struggling for the arrested women, Ruşen Seydaoğlu said, “Even if women are arrested, there are dozens of women who can struggle for them. Women have struggled against the attacks of the male-dominant system for thousands of years. We, of course, know that we will face such attacks but we will never accept them and keep struggling against them.”

‘Attacks on the TJA have become systematic’

Ruken Ergüneş, board member of the Rosa Women’s Association, also reacted to the detention and arrest of the women. Stating that the system attacks women to protect its power, she said, “The attacks on the TJA have become systematic. They want to cover up the attacks and arrests against women by accusing them of being members of a terrorist organization or by showing the testimonies of secret witnesses. On November 25, they banned all activities and protests in the cities of Kurdistan to silence women. The women, who took to the streets in the West, were subjected to police violence and detention. We knew that Kurdish women would be targeted again after November 25.

‘They want to silence society by arresting women’

“The government targets the women, who uncover its rights violations. They want to silence society by arresting and oppressing women. Before the elections, the ruling party tries to give a message to the opposition groups by targeting women. But they should know that women will never take a step back. We will keep struggling to uncover rights violations by being in solidarity with our arrested friends.”