News Center- Turkish police conducted dawn house raids in Istanbul yesterday, detaining 17 women, including Dilek Başalan, president of the Women's Time Association (Turkish: Kadın Zamanı Derneği); activists of the Free Women’s Movement (Kurdish: Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA); members of the Peace Mothers’ Initiative, the Mesopotamia Cultural Center (MKM) and the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party).

‘There are attempts to criminalize the activities of women activists’

The Women’s Time Association held a press conference at its building in Istanbul regarding the detention of women. “There are attempts to criminalize the activities of women activists as a result of the sexist policies carried out by the judiciary, which has joined hands with the male-dominant government and lost its independence,” said Esra Biber at the conference.

‘This is an attempt to silence Kurdish women’

Everyone defending human rights, equality and freedom against the government’s nationalist and misogynist policies is labeled as ‘terrorist’, Esra Biber said. “The detention of the president of our association, the activists of the TJA and members of the MKM is an attempt to silence Kurdish women struggling against rights violations faced by Kurdish women. The government aims to prevent our feminist struggle by intensifying its attacks on women activists.”

‘The detention of women activists is unacceptable’

Pointing out that the detention of women activists just before the upcoming local elections is unacceptable, Esra Biber said, “Turkey is going through a period in which fundamental rights and freedoms are violated and people are subjected to arbitrary detention. The detention of women activists is a crackdown on the feminist movement. We say once again that your dirty politics and aggressive policies cannot make us take a step back from our struggle. We will not give up the struggle.”