"Let's fight together against the government that wants to criminalize our unity," said the HDP politician at a press conference on the recent wave of repression against the women's movement in Amed.

The press conference in the garden of the DTK office in Amed was attended by numerous other HDP MPs and activists from the “Free Women Movement” (TJA), members of the HDP youth council and mayors deposed by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior. They held photos of the women arrested over the weekend as part of an investigation against the Rosa Women's association. A photo showed three-year-old Dilgeş, who has gone to prison with the mother Gönül Aslan. The HDP politician, one of the twelve arrested, has two other children who are now with her grandparents. The father is abroad.

Nothing is normal

Ayşe Acar Başaran, referring to the “normalization phase” in the coronavirus pandemic also taking place in Turkey, said: “Unfortunately, nothing is normal in this country. The war and repressive policies that have been in place since the parliamentary elections on 7 June 2015 are being expanded daily. The pandemic is seen as an opportunity. For the AKP government, the new normality means that democracy will be abolished, women will be murdered every day, security guards, police officers and soldiers will harass people every day and that politically active people who insist on democratic politics are at risk of death in prison."

"Why do you advocate women's rights?"

The last step of "normalization" taken by the government was the arrest of twelve people members of the board of the Rosa Women's Association and Kurdish politicians last weekend, Başaran said, adding: “Those affected are people who have worked to build a society in which women do not have to fear for their lives, poor people and the population do not have to fear for their democratic rights.” The wave of arrests in Amed occurred shortly before the start of a four-day curfew in Turkey, according to Başaran, to prevent street protests.

Basaran went on to say: “And what were the women asked during the interrogation? - Why did you organize an event on March 8th, why did you get a message from the HDP, why did you ask for clarification in the case of the missing student Gülistan Doku, why do you stand up for women's rights, why do you run the women's associations like Rosa? - Those were the questions that law enforcement officials wanted answers for. This shows that the entire women's struggle is actually under trial here. However, no world power can condemn this struggle.”

Men kill, women go to prison

Basaran pointed out that documents of victims of male violence have been confiscated during the search carried out at the office of Rosa Women’s association. At the same time as the house searches were carried out in Amed, a woman was murdered in Izmir, the perpetrator runs free. "Instead of finding the culprit, the government is chasing women who are calling for an end to the murders of women," said the HDP politician.

Başaran ended her speech by saying: “The attack today is not an attack on the HDP, nor on Kurdish women alone, it is an attack on all women. Let's unite and be one voice and let's bury this male-dominated mentality together. Let's defend our achievements together, let's weave our future together. I say, let's turn the new normality into a women's world instead of a men’s world.”