Women Seeking Peace Prohibited from Entering Parliament.

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It came out that the women protesting in front of the entrance of Parliament’s General Assembly to call on the Parliament for duty for peace had been prohibited from entering the Parliament.

Two members of the committee of women heading to the Parliament on Friday (February 12) to hand in signatures collected within the petition #Barışa1000Kadın to the President of the Parliament have not been allowed in the Parliament.

It has been reported that Nimet Tanrıkulu from Women for Peace Initiative and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey President Şebnem Korur Fincancı had been banned from entering the Parliament. The reason for the prohibition has not been declared, nor any written document requiring the ban has been rendered.

Tanrıkulu and Fincancı had staged a protest in front of the entrance of Parliament’s General Assembly together with Prof. Dr. Neşe Özgen, journalist Nadire Mater, human rights defenders Mine Nazari, Ümit Efe and Ümit Sezer and called on the Parliament to duty for peace.

CLICK - PEACE CALL AT PARLIAMENT BY 7 WOMEN

Fincancı has noted; “We as rights defenders take it as a duty to make our voices heard through all possible channels. We think that there is a problem and want to reflect it. The interlocutor for this is the Parliament so we have mentioned it in the Parliament. This does not involve any crime or violence. We have pointed out to the problem verbally and have performed a tradition of these lands and have thrown a white cheesecloth on the ground”.

“No reason declared for the ban”

President of Human Rights Foundation of Turkey; Şebnem Korur Fincancı talking to bianet has noted;

“On Friday, we were supposed to submit the signatures collected by the Women for Peace Initiative (BİKG) to the Parliament, we had also made an appointment by the President of the Parliament. After changing the time of the appointment due to the funeral of Abdullah Gül’s mother-in-law several times, it was agreed on 5.30 p.m.  And we have previously made a statement to the press and met at 4.45 p.m. and have passed through the check-point of the security directorate.

“Then we dropped our IDs to Public Relations Unit. We were seven people, five of us took our IDs back. The person working there stood up, left and returned and said there is malfunction in the system. However, cases were opened there and pages were browsed.

“We waited a bit more. Finally, director of public relations came. ‘[Entering] parliament ban has been imposed on you’. We asked of the allegation but he/she said couldn’t see the allegation. Then I asked whether it is related to the incident on January 7. He/she said according to bylaw, no one is allowed to hold press statement or stage a protest other than MPs.

“We asked for document but they said there was nothing written.

“We were told to see protection director, and they said ‘we don’t have any document, if we had wouldn’t let you pass here’. We will appeal to Commission of Petition to ask justification of the ban and will demand removal of it”. (ÇT/DG)