JINHA

ISTANBUL - Women's organizations from across Turkey have issued a joint statement calling on Parliament, the media and women everywhere to prevent war.

On Friday, June 29, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made remarks indicating Turkey's intention to militarily intervene in Syria to stop "the formation of a state on our borders"--implicitly, a declaration of intent to attack the multicultural, largely Kurdish autonomous region of Rojava. Yesterday, women's organizations in Turkey warning politicians not to pursue war in the place of peace negotiations.

In their statement, the women recalled the savage Daesh attack on the city of Kobanê, in Rojava. They called the attack, in which more than 230 civilians were killed, "preparation for a new period of war." They noted that the war just outside Turkey's border has made it all the more difficult to develop peace inside the country. The peace process between the Turkish state and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) has been frozen for the last three months.

The women noted that the electorate had rejected policies of war with their votes in the most recent general election. In the election, the AKP lost its majority and the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) won a significant victory on a platform of peace and democratization. Because no party gained enough seats to form a single-party government in the general election, the Parliament does not currently have the ability to declare war.

The women addressed politicians in Turkey: "When there is a new parliament where the differences of the country are well represented, do not bring war and war bills as a solution to any problem.

The statement also called on the media not to agitate for war and for women across the country to join the struggle for peace.

The joint statement was issued on the call of the group Women’s Initiative for Peace and undersigned by feminist organizations, trade union women's committees, women student groups and various other independent women’s organizations.

(nt/cm)