At a special parliamentary session to mark International Women’s Day, Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party co-chair Tülay Hatimoğulları called on women to mobilise on 8 March, stressing the importance of solidarity in the struggle for equality. “Women are strongest when we stand together. Regardless of our language, ethnicity or beliefs, just being women unites us. On 8 March, we will take to the streets and raise our voices for freedom, equality and justice,” she said.
Hatimoğulları condemned the government’s decision to declare 2025 the ‘Year of the Family’, arguing that such policies aim to control women’s bodies and their lives. “Instead of strengthening women’s rights, they are imposing population control measures and trying to dictate whether and how many children we should have,” she said, calling for an end to policies that restrict access to contraception, abortion and other reproductive rights.
She also urged Turkey to rejoin the Istanbul Convention and enforce laws against gender-based violence. “Women are most often subjected to violence by the men they love. To end this, we must immediately rejoin the Istanbul Convention and fully implement Law 6284 [Law to Protect the Family and Prevent Violence against Women],” she said.
On wider political issues, Hatimoğulları rejected the government’s policy of replacing elected mayors with state-appointed trustees, describing it as an attack on women’s representation and democratic rights. She went on to back jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan’s recent call for a political solution to the Kurdish question, describing it as a historic step towards peace. “Öcalan has opened the doors to democracy and equality. Now it is the government’s responsibility to act,” she said.
In her closing remarks, Hatimoğulları reaffirmed the DEM party’s commitment to women’s struggles and peace efforts and called for mass participation in the 8 March demonstrations and celebrations for Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, a fortnight later. “We will paint the country purple with our resistance and determination,” she declared.
