The Free Women’s Movement (TJA) on Sunday said in a statement that the local elections on 31 March resulted in victory for the movement in Kurdish-majority provinces.
“The attacks against our co-mayor system and the reactionary, sexually discriminating, nationalist and fundamentalist propaganda of groups like the Islamic State and others have been rendered ineffective by our organised and determined stance,” the statement read.
“The winner have been the women who did not abandon their vision of a free future and who stood behind the co-mayor system (…) The Free Women’s Movement had turned the election campaign into an opportunity to meet, talk and further build up solidarity. In the process it has been demonstrated once again that freedom can be built only through women’s organised power.”
It added:
“The elections are not an ultimate goal, but phases in the construction of a democratic, ecologic and feminist system. Through the people’s power that we have unleashed, we will continue to strengthen our will power and build the women’s system.”
The co-mayor system was introduced in Turkey by Kurdish-led parties and is still practiced solely by these parties. It requires all local governments to be run by two co-mayors, a woman and a man. Ten Kurdish-majority cities, three populous metropolitan areas among them, and dozens of districts, where the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) won last Sunday, will now be run by co-mayors for five years. This is, however, only provided that the Turkish government will not illegally replace the elected co-mayors with appointed state officials like it did in the last 10 years.
The DEM Party, like its predecessors, are also run by co-chairs at all levels and branches.