Nişmiye Güler

 

ISTANBUL - While Kırkyama Women’s Solidarity and Purple Solidarity continue their work on 25 November, they are calling for women to take to the squares against male-state violence for the meeting to be held in Taksim Tunnel.

 

The Mirabal Sisters, who were killed on November 25, 1960 due to their struggle against the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, are among the symbolic names of the women’s struggle. Women in the world and in Turkey are going to November 25 this year with their anger and rebellion. Women’s organizations in Istanbul, one of the cities where the November 25 events were most intense, are getting ready to meet in Taksim Tunnel Square under the leading of the November 25 Women’s Platform.

 

From women’s organizations, Purple Solidarity and Kırkyama Women’s Solidarity continue their preparations for the meeting to be held in Taksim Tunnel on November 25, in addition to their activities. The solidarity members, who invited women to Taksim Tunnel, spoke to our agency.

 

Meetings were held in the neighborhoods and districts

 

Tülay Korkutan from Kırkyama Women’s Solidarity, drawing attention to the importance of November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the day the Mirabal Sisters were killed, said that they are preparing for November 25 with the slogan ‘’We are on the streets for equality, freedom and each other on November 25’’. About the works, Tülay said, ‘’We are a component of the November 25 Women’s Platform. We will meet at Taksim Tunnel at 19:30. We carry out the works both on the platform and in the neighborhoods and districts we are in as Kırkyama Solidarity. We held meetings in many districts, and our meetings will continue in the coming days. We had a movie screening on domestic violence, there will be banner preparations, graffiti works, and videos which women sent the November 25 message’’.

 

‘There were very serious attacks on our gains’

 

Saying that there are factors that make this November 25 different, Tülay pointed to Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. Tülay said, ‘’There were very serious attacks on our gains. Apart from that, there are harassment and attacks on women, LGBT+ and immigrant women through racist policies. We are going towards November 25 during the pandemic process. For us, there are not huge differences that distinguish it from other November 25, because male violence, patriarchal violence has always existed’’.

 

‘Our rebellion this year will be really huge’

 

Underlining that women who defend women and their lives are punished by the government, Tülay said, ‘’Çilem Doğan and Yasemin Çakal were punished for defending their lives. Our friends like Ayşe Gökkan, who were in the women’s struggle, were tried for 30 years. We have never left the streets, this dynamic is constantly growing. Due to the reasons I have mentioned, our rebellion this year will be really huge. We women will always be on the street and continue in the footsteps of the struggle for our lives, our rights, our freedom, for the creation of a world where there is no violence and where we can live equally freely. We have no choice because now we are threatened with our lives. That is why we will once again shout out from wherever we are that we are not afraid from the existing political power and patriarchy, that we are not silent, that we will enlarge our rebellion’’.

 

‘To the squares on November 25’

 

Tülay called out for November 25 as, “I invite all women to the streets and to the fields on November 25 for their own lives, for each other, for equality and freedom. I invite those who are not able to go out to the streets to experience the spirit of November 25 and to tell about the struggle against male violence’’.

 

Self-defense workshops from Purple Solidarity

 

Purple Solidarity is also going to November 25 this year with the slogan ‘’We are everywhere, in the rebellion against male-state violence, side by side, on the streets, with an organized struggle’’. In this context, solidarity members who distribute leaflets and carry out informing works in many parts of Istanbul invite women to Taksim Tunnel on November 25 to defend their rights. Again, within the scope of their own activities, solidarity members who come together with women at ‘’Purple table meetings’’ aim to mutualise the women’s struggle by exchanging of views. Ezgi Gürer, a member of Purple Solidarity, who gave information about the works of November 25 this year, emphasized that November 25 has a special importance at a time when the violence against women increased with the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention as well as the increase in physical and economic violence. Ezgi said, ‘’When we go to the police station, apply for complaint and are refused, our only solution is to defend ourselves. As Purple Solidarity, we hold self-defense workshops. We hold workshops which we learn about the purpose and practice of self-defense. We also care about making workshops’’.

 

‘How do we prevent this violence?’

 

Ezgi said that with the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, many of the rights of women were taken away. She continued, ‘’The statement ‘We as a state do not have any obligation in case of any attack’ actually faced us with violence. So how do we prevent this violence? In order to break this language of violence on November 25, when we are on the streets every year on November 25, while the Istanbul Convention stands in a place that protects the rights and lives of women and LGBT+ individuals, Turkey’s decision to withdraw from convention actually faces us with violence’’.

 

The importance of self-defense

 

Emphasizing the importance of women’s participation in self-defense workshops, Ezgi said, ‘’Technically, you come face to face with death in an attack. We should defend ourselves in order to prevent this killing. We care about women’s ability to develop their self-defense mechanisms’’.