quote:
The DTP’s İstanbul deputy, Sebahat Tuncel, is under arrest and being tried on charges of being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The co-chairperson of the party, Aysel Tuğluk, is from Diyarbakır, and the former chairman of the women’s branch of the party, Fatma Kurtalan, is from Van.
Among the new women deputies is journalist Gülten Kışanak from Diyarbakır, who was born in 1961 and was working in the Bağlar Municipality.
Sevahir Bayındır from Şırnak is a nurse born in 1969.
Some of the deputies have civil society experience like Pervin Buldan, the chairman of the Aid and Solidarity Association for Bereaved Families (YAKAY-DER), and Emine Ayna from Mardin, the founder of the Rainbow Women’s Movement.
The youngest DTP female deputy is Ayla Akat, born in 1976, who works as a lawyer. Akat is the newly elected deputy from Batman, a city always mentioned in connection with female suicide. She said violence is the biggest problem for women both in the region and across Turkey and that they are planning to work together with female deputies of other parties in order to overcome this problem. They also aim for a new “women’s language” in Parliament.
“Women’s most basic human rights are transferred to their families or at the hands of male members of the family under the pressure of the feudalism. We hope to raise awareness of women not only through education but also by trying to make sure their involvement in production processes becomes visible,” Akat says.
While talking about her occupation as a lawyer, Akat said in most cases she was called “Mr. Lawyer,” not “Mrs. Lawyer” as a show of support from women.
“They gave us a very tough job, and we will try to do this job in cooperation with women’s organizations,” she said.
Hidayet Tuksal from the Başkent Women’s Platform points out that Turkey’s women’s movement had some difficulties in reaching those women who consider themselves members of their families before citizens. With any luck the representation of women in Parliament might help to get beyond this.
Akat, who has a 2-year-old son, says they will work not only for specific regional problems but also for the basic human rights for women all over Turkey, including freedom of belief.
In the past, former Democracy Party (DEP) deputy Leyla Zana sparked angry debates when she took her oath in Parliament in the Kurdish language. She also was presented as the symbol of Kurdish women. Kışanak said that there would not be an “oath crisis” in Parliament this time around.
“Parliament is not a place to fight. Rather it is for discussions, producing solutions and compromise,” Kışanak said. She also mentioned that they plan to form a partnership with other deputies regardless of differences in political views.
Tarık Ziya Ekinci, a prominent Kurdish intellectual, said women deputies are preferred by the DTP despite the feudal structure of the region. According to Ekinci, this preference does not fit the mentality of the people in the region but will contribute to an improvement of women’s positions in the region. Nazik Işık, a well-known figure in Turkey’s feminist movement, makes a similar point, saying the DTP, trying to take steps in modernization and become a people’s movement, needs female power so it had to work with women in all levels of the party.
Işık said that, despite the challenges of the job, these women deputies will contribute to the feminist movement in Turkey. She also mentioned her hope that they will help decrease the aggressiveness in Parliament.
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posted 23 July 2007 08:14 AM
