JINHA

SÊRT – Workers at the Berfin Women’s Information Center in the province of Siirt report that with the Turkish state’s escalating blockades on Kurdistan, they have recorded a rise in violence against women. “In the home, the street, the school, the city squares, male violence is on the prowl and no woman is safe,” said the women’s center workers.

Since July, Turkish state forces have maintained brutal blockades against Kurdish towns and cities.

The Berfin Women’s Information Center operated by the city government in Siirt held a press conference today to report on the rising violence, rape and sexual abuse against women that they have observed over recent months.

“It has become a social trauma that in our country, three women are killed every day and thousands of women are subjected to violence,” said Şaziye Sevilgen, a psychologist at the center. “One of our number is killed every day and it’s driving us to rebellion. You are simply forced to say, ‘is this humanity?’ Violence is being made into our historical fate. In the home, the streets, the school, the city squares, male violence is on the prowl.”

Şaziye noted that women’s self-defense was necessary and legitimate in the face of rising violence against women.

“None of us is safe,” said Şaziye. She noted that the sexual abuse of women who had been arrested in Siirt was just one of the examples the Center had recorded, demonstrating the relationship between the new war being forced on Kurdistan and male violence.

Şaziye said that, “sexual and militarized violence against women is continuing at full speed.”

She said that the Women’s Center would continue to resist the attacks.

(fk/cm)