MERSİN - Speaking at the women's meeting, Kurdish politician Sebahat Tuncel pointed out that the trustee practice has become a regime and affects the lives of women first and foremost, and said: "The trustee is an attack against our women's libertarian line and the co-presidency system. As women, we have to weave ways of struggle against this attack."

 

Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Women's Assembly organized a "Women's Meeting" in Mersin with the participation of Kurdish politician Sebahat Tuncel. Before the event, Peace Mothers and party representatives greeted Tuncel with flowers at the entrance of the city. In front of the DEM Party Mersin Provincial Organization where the meeting was held, a large number of women greeted Tuncel with the slogans "Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom)". DEM Party Mersin deputy Perihan Koca, representatives of women's organizations and many women attended the women's meeting. During the meeting, the trustee policies, current problems of women and practices of struggle against the attacks were discussed.

 

'THERE IS A GREAT RESISTANCE AGAINST THE TRUSTEE'

 

Speaking first at the meeting, deputy Perihan Koca pointed out that there has been a struggle against the usurpation of will for more than a month and said: "We have been on the streets since June 3, saying, 'We will not have our will usurped, the municipalities are ours. We are protecting the will of the people and our will on the streets by growing the struggle. The march in Van is being organized with the great determination of our Peace Mothers, our comrades and our people. A great resistance to the 3rd wave of trustee usurpation is taking place all over the country."

 

'IT AFFECTS WOMEN'

 

After Koca, Kurdish politician Sebahat Tuncel spoke about the effects of trustee policies on women's lives. Pointing out that the first justification for the appointment of trustees was the co-presidency system, Tuncel said: "Co-presidency means the elimination of masculine politics, the reconsideration of life in the context of gender equality, the inclusion of women in decision-making and implementation mechanisms, the presence of women in all areas of life and equal representation. For this reason, the first attack was on the co-presidency system." Tuncel stated that the co-presidency is a great achievement for women and underlined that the co-presidency should be embraced and the attacks should be responded to at least as much as the Law No. 6284 is considered important and embraced.

 

EMPHASIS ON STRUGGLE

 

"Co-presidency is not only an achievement of Kurdish women" Tuncel said, and explained why it is important to implement the co-presidency system in local governments: "Why is co-presidency not a problem when we implement it at the center, but it is a problem when we implement it in local governments? Because it means providing services accordingly. It means that everyone living in the cities receives equal service from the municipalities. Co-presidency aims to turn these cities back into places where women can live and breathe. The trustee regime is taking away these gains of all women. When the trustee regime first came in, 43 of our women's institutions were closed down, not only women's institutions were closed down, but men were appointed to all of these institutions, and the institutions were used for purposes other than their purpose."  

 

Tuncel said that the trusteeship is an ideological attack against the women's libertarian line and called on women to fight against these attacks.