Women are the primary targets of special warfare policies in Kurdistan, but Kurdish women have never yielded to these pressures, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar declared at a press briefing in Bingöl (Çewlîg) on Monday.
“Our mountains were bombed, our trees were cut down and our rivers were polluted. Nature was also our memory. They built hydroelectric and geothermal power plants on our nature. What lies underwater is also our memory. The aim of special warfare is to leave the Kurdish people without memory and unprotected,” Uçar said.
Speaking at the DBP Women’s Council’s workshop report presentation, Uçar highlighted how the state escalates conflict rather than addressing people’s problems. “Poverty and hunger are high in Kurdistan. The main reason is that the state adopted war policies instead of peace,” she stated.
Uçar revealed that Turkish security forces arrive in Kurdish-majority regions “not just for duty, but to trap young women under the guise of love,” while young people are being deliberately exposed to drugs. “We will expose these special warfare policies,” she emphasised.
The DBP Co-Chair criticised Turkey’s withdrawal from the İstanbul Convention: “The state never wants women’s freedom. They know that if women awaken, much will change. They cancelled the İstanbul Convention because they feared women would demand their rights.”
Addressing the isolation of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan, Uçar said: “There is isolation in İmralı Prison. Everywhere we say ‘Let Mr Öcalan be freed, let problems be solved.’ They say ‘no’. They know very well that those who want women’s freedom the most will protect Kurdistan.”
Uçar called for women to raise their voices during the upcoming International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November. “We women have always raised our voices. Together in unity, we will say ‘no’ to state oppression,” she concluded.
