Ayla Akat Ata meets with people in Batman: Our struggle will continue

Meeting with the people at the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Batman Provincial Organisation building, Ayla Akat Ata stated that the Kurdish question does not only concern the Kurdish people, but all parties must deal with it.

During a visit to Batman, former HDP MP Ayla Akat Ata vowed the continuation of her political struggle. Ata is one of five Kurdish politicians who were sentenced and released in mid-May in the Kobanê trial in Ankara after several years of pre-trial detention. A law graduate, she was the first woman in Batman to be elected to the Turkish parliament in 2007 and was a member of parliament until 2015. She then became spokesperson for the Free Women's Movement (TJA) and was arrested several times, most recently in the Kobanê trial in 2020.  

In Batman, Ayla Akat Ata was greeted with applause and trills of joy from long-time comrades-in-arms. During her visit to the DBP headquarters, the slogan ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’ [Woman, Life, Freedom] was chanted over and over again. Ayla Akat Ata said that prison had only been one stage in their joint struggle: ‘We tried to remain part of this struggle while in prison. Now we are back outside and continuing the struggle as part of the women's movement and members of the TJA.’

Ata pointed out that their primary goal remains a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. In 2013, the politician was one of the first MPs to consult with Abdullah Öcalan on the prison island of Imrali during the negotiations between the Turkish state and the PKK at the time. “We will continue to campaign for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. Our people have been demanding for many years that the gates of Imrali be opened. New negotiations must begin, in which Abdullah Öcalan must be included. This issue does not only concern the Kurdish people, but all parties must also deal with it. The idea of a democratic solution must be anchored in society,” she underlined.