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100 women from different NGOs and unions coming together on January 18 upon the call of Women’s Initiative for Peace to launch a campaign, have opened a stand for petition.
The campaign had been announced by the message of actress Jülide Kural
The petition of the women saying “We are on the side of life not death” will end on February 1. The campaign runs also online on the website yasamdanyanayiz.com. The stands set up in Beşiktaş and Kadıköy have drawn huge attention of many women on the streets.
Demircan: “Women suffer the most”
Selin Demircan supporting the petition with her signature has spoken as follows:
“I have signed for the killings to come to an end. I stand with life not with death. I don’t want anyone to die because of such a fight. On top of this, it is also women who have to suffer the most in such an environment of clashes and war”.
Karakaş: “I want the war to end immediately”
Kerira Karakaş has reasoned her support as follows:
“I want peace. I don’t want people to die. As a Kurd, I also feel pretty uncomfortable with the situation that curfews are being imposed in Kurdish provinces and that Kurds are being killed. I demand immediately putting an end to this war against Kurds”.
Subaşı: “Let’s raise a loud voice against killings”
Öznur Subaşı; member of Women’s Initiative for Peace participating in running the campaign has pointed out to other aspects of the campaign besides the petition like the gathering of 1,000 women for peace and peace watch in Diyarbakır:
“The negotiation process launched to find a solution for the Kurdish question has been interrupted for months. For longer than almost 6 months we have been getting dragged into an environment of war becoming gradually more violent with curfews declared in Kurdish provinces. We as Women’s Initiative for Peace has always announced how hard and bad war is for women. And now we as women want to raise a loud voice against the massacres and deaths which have been increasing and have launched a campaign for this purpose”.
Peace watch in Diyarbakır on February 6-7
Stating that they have been collecting signatures as the first leg of the campaign, Subaşı has noted that they would declare the reasons for launching the petition on January 31 in Kadıköy with the slogan “1,000 Women for Peace”.
On the final leg of the campaign the women will keep a peace watch in Diyarbakır on February 6-7.
Famous women from Turkey and the world have supported the campaign with their signatures including Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Member Leila Khaled, theatre actresses Deniz Türkali, Nur Sürer and Jülide Kural as well as journalist Mehveş Evin and author Müge İplikçi. (EK/HK/DG)