The Lawyers Association for Freedom (ÖHD) Amed Branch Co-Chair lawyer Özüm Vurgun said that state violence that has been going on in Kurdistan since the 90s has become more visible and changed its form today. “Female activists who are struggling to prevent and expose these attacks, are subjected to the attacks of judicial authorities. Before asking questions about why they are given such long prison terms, we should ask why they are put on trial,” she noted.

Lawyer Vurgun was interviewed by ANF about the trials of women in the last one year.

Vurgun noted that Turkey has withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention and adopted a policy based on hostility towards women and destroying them.

NOVEL FORMS OF ATTACKS

Vurgun stressed that a peculiar enemy law has been introduced to target women from Kurdistan. “There are certainly attacks against women in Turkey, but there is a separate and special war policy against women from Kurdistan. It is possible to see this tendency in women's trials. TJA activist Zelal Bilgin was sentenced to 10 years and Ayşe Gökkan to 30 years in prison. Moreover, lawyer Ruşen Seydaoğlu was sentenced to 6 years, Şaziye Cantepe and myriad Kurdish women activists were sentenced to various jail times. The Turkish judicial authorities carry out attacks which we can deem as a special and cold war, with a masculine mentality. We see that these anti-women special war policies which were adopted in the 90s are still being pursued in Kurdistan in altered forms today.”

CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS FOR WOMEN

Vurgun pointed out that special war policies are currently promoted through femicides by misogynist criminals like Musa Orhan and Onur Gencer. “These perpetrators were public officials. They committed these murders while in uniform. This state violence has been going on since the 90s. In Kurdistan, this violence is done more openly and changes its forms. Female activists who are struggling to prevent and expose these attacks, are subjected to the attacks of judicial authorities. That's why I think we need to discuss the constitutional status of Kurdish women now. Before asking questions about why they are sentenced to such long prison terms, we should ask why they are put on trial. All these attacks are aimed at suppressing and annihilating women.

ENEMY LAW

Vurgun stated that the Turkish judicial system adopts a policy of impunity when it comes to women. “As femicides have surged in the country, there is a straight-forward enemy law against women from Kurdistan and politics. The government’s overall plan is to create docile women. They put pressure on women who do not comply with this plan. They pursue a policy of intimidation through the trials. The masculine state also imposes its point of view and methods on ordinary male citizens.”

WE WILL NOT RENOUNCE OUR STRUGGLE

“Women's resistance and revolution are always strong. They will not be able to suppress us with their massacres and bullying. We will never give up our achievements. We will protect our achievements by confronting these misogynist attacks and continuing our resistance.”