JINHA

ŞIRNEX – Women anti-war activists joined the women of the besieged Kurdish town of Cizre for a forum, where they discussed self-government and the effects of war in women.

Women anti-war activists from the group Women’s Initiative for Peace (BİKG) continued their visit the town of Cizre yesterday. 21 civilians were killed during a 9-day police siege on the Kurdish town.

The activists headed to the heavily-damaged Nur neighborhood to meet with local women and assess the damage to local buildings. The activists then participated in a neighborhood forum. There, women discussed the war in the region in the 1990s, the concept of self-government and the new form of war being implemented in Turkey.

Leyla İmret, the co-mayor of Cizre who was removed from her post by state order recently, was the first to speak at the forum. She touched on women’s strength and resistance even as their children were killed by the state during the blockade on the town.

“It’s impossible to speak of human rights and women’s rights here. But in spite of all these attacks, we’ve seen how strong women can be,” said Leyla. She thanked the activists for coming to the town.

Gurbet Çağdavul, whose son Mehmet Sait was among the 21 civilians killed in the blockade, shared her experience at the forum. “There was blood on my dying son’s face, but we didn’t even have a bottle of water or a napkin to clean it off,” Gurbet related. Gurbet questioned the Turkish state’s motives in committing a massacre in Cizre.

Asya Yüksel, who co-chairs the People’s Assembly in the Cudi neighborhood, shared her thoughts on self-government at the forum. She said that self-government originated in living together and characterized the practice in terms of the concept of “ethical politics.”

“To be ethically political is at the same time to defend women’s identity,” said Asya. “For nine days, we were surrounded by tanks and cannons. In fact, this was an attempt to assimilate the people of Cizre. But for nine days, we lived communally, with our slogans and our ululations, our water and our food. This is what living together and ethical politics means.”

Other women shared their experiences of similar popular resistance and solidarity when the Turkish state attacked the town’s Newroz celebrations during the 1990s.
Later that evening, the Cizre municipal government held an outdoor screening of the Kurdish film “When Women Love” (“Dema Jin Hezbike”) for neighborhood women. The film follows a woman and painter in her encounter with the guerrilla. Women brought their children to the showing, where anti-war activist women were also in attendance.
Today will be the last day of Women’s Initiative for Peace’s Cizre visit.

(dk-pz/dc/cm)