From Rebekka Endler to Çiğdem Mater: 'We will fight together even if the walls separate us'
Click to read the article in Turkish
Journalist Rebekka Endler, the author of "The Patriarchy of Things" posted a tweet about Çiğdem Mater, and tagged Mater's article in her tweet, "The patriarchy of things" in women's prisons in Turkey," published in bianet yesterday (June 26).
"Çiğdem, we are many"
Mater was discussing in her article how women are being overlooked in the penal system, reflecting on her observations in prison, while focusing on Endler's book.
Endler said in her tweet, "Çiğdem Mater, a Turkish movie maker who is in prison because of her work, has read the Turkish translation of The Patriarchy of Things there and she added an impressive chapter to it about the patriarchy in everyday life for women in Turkish prisons."
"I'm sitting on the train, going to a reading in Saarbrücken while I'm reading this. It's about hygiene, about the rules, about design, everything so concentrated in so few square meters that we, in freedom, find it difficult to understand what it means: imprisonment in the patriarchal space."
"I am angry & deeply touched that we are all united over the lyrics & the feeling that we need to make a change. For all. Çiğdem, if you read this, we are many & we fight together, even if walls separate us. I thank you with all my heart (in Turkish)."
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In the case of the Gezi Park protests, the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court sentenced Osman Kavala to aggravated life imprisonment for attempt to overthrow the government, and Mücella Yapıcı, Çiğdem Mater, Hakan Altınay, Mine Özerden, Can Atalay, Tayfun Kahraman, and Yiğit Ali Ekmekçi to 18 years of imprisonment for helping this crime. Çiğdem Mater is a filmmaker, producer, and journalist with many films that received awards in Turkey and abroad. She was arrested on April 25, 2022, and sent to the Bakırköy Women's Prison. İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court argued that she could escape, when arresting Mater. However, Çiğdem Mater had come from Germany where she was living to Turkey in order to participate in the hearings of the case in February. A film that she has not shot was shown as a reason in the court decision sentencing her to 18 years of imprisonment. |