In contrast to the members of the early feminist and Islamist women’s activism, the forerunners of Kurdish women’s activism were not only middle class, educated women from urban centers, but also lower class women from rural areas. While some were employed, most were trying to find livelihood in the cities they recently moved in. The main argument of the Kurdish women activists was that Kurdish women face double-discrimination: they are discriminated first because of their ethnic identity, and second because of their gender identity. Although not all Kurdish women activists have been politicized within the Kurdish national movement, their political leanings were mainly formed in a pro-Kurdish political atmosphere. Three Kurdish women’s organizations stand out as the most prominent and publicly visible Kurdish women’s CSOs in Turkey, and they will be taken in close consideration in this chapter.
Arguably the most publicly known and recognized Kurdish women’s CSO in Turkey is the
‘Women’s Center Foundation’ (Kadın Merkezi Vakfı, KAMER). A group of politically active educated Kurdish women in Diyarbakır173 began to question the reasons behind violence against women in the Kurdish region and decided to form a women’s organization to deal with the violence issue from a women’s perspective.174 But in the 1990s, it was difficult to establish an association working on social problems due to the restrictive political circumstances in the Kurdish region (cf. Chapter 4). Given these circumstances, in 1997, KAMER activists formed a small private firm and agency (Akkoç 2007: 208). The founder Nebahat Akkoç stated in our
173 Diyarbakır is the second largest Kurdish populated province in Turkey.
174 Personal interview with the head of KAMER Nebahat Akkoç, November 2010, Diyarbakır. Akkoç worked as an elementary school teacher in Diyarbakır and was a member of the leftist teacher’s union (Eğitim-Sen) in the 1970s and 1980s. Her husband, also a Kurdish leftist, was killed in 1993 and he was one of the thousands of victims of death squads linked to the state. Akkoç said: “I was occasionally detained by security forces and severely tortured. The state violence, especially against women, brought me to the idea of establishing a civil society organization.”
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interview that KAMER set two goals: 1) combating all forms of violence against women, and 2) raising women’s awareness of their legal rights.
In 2004, KAMER became an association, and since 2005 it has served as a foundation.
KAMER regularly conducts surveys to identify cultural and traditional practices that are detrimental to women and children. To this end, KAMER volunteers make face-to-face interviews with women in their homes. Based on the findings, the organization initiates projects to fight discrimination and violence against women in the Kurdish region. KAMER disseminates gathered data and information about its activities through its website175, both in Turkish and Kurdish, and through the local media. It also encourages women’s entrepreneurship and counsels them to find access to know-how and financial resources for their start-ups (Akkoç 2007: 210). Over the years, KAMER spread around in the Kurdish populated east and south-east of Turkey, opening twenty-three branches. These branches have similar aims and encourage women who want to actively participate in public life. Nebahat Akkoç stated in our interview that KAMER, as a feminist organization, has a non-hierarchical structure and takes decisions on the basis of voting by unanimity.176 It has working groups focusing on specific issues, but it has no commissions or committees.
Moreover, KAMER’s work for women’s empowerment is recognized internationally.
Nebahat Akkoç has been awarded as an influential women’s rights activist on several international platforms. She has been listed in Time Magazine’s “Heroes of the Middle East and Europe” (2003) and received the “Ginetta Sagan Award” (2004) by Amnesty International and the “Legion d' Honneur Medal” by France (2006). KAMER’s projects are to a great extent funded through international institutions such as the European Commission, the Open Society Institute, German political foundations (Friedrich Ebert and Heinrich Böll Foundations), and foreign consulates in Turkey. KAMER has also acquired grants from national donors such as the aforementioned Sabancı Foundation (cf. Chapter 7) and the ‘Central Finance and Contract Units’
175 See: http://www.kamer.org.tr/ (rev. 07.04.2014)
176 During the interview, I asked Nebahat Akkoç how long she acted as the head of the organization. She replied that she has always been the head of KAMER since she was the founder of the organization. Although she claims that the organization rejects hierarchy, and everyone has equal voice, it is clear that she is highly influential in the organization and has the final word in decision-making.
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affiliated with the Prime Ministry. In addition to donations and grants, KAMER has a restaurant that partly finances the regular expenses of the organization.
KAMER was initially viewed with suspicion by the Kurdish national movement. In its forming years, Nebahat Akkoç came under pressure from the PKK, which wanted to take control over Kurdish women’s activities (Pope 2013). Akkoç remarked in our interview: “The [Kurdish]
BDP does not like KAMER’s autonomy and blames us to be ‘close’ to the state. Here, in the Kurdish region, you are either seen as a ‘statist’ or a ‘PKK-supporter’. But we are independent of all political parties or groups in the region.” She emphasized that KAMER believes in democratic plurality and embraces women from all ethnicities who search for help and support.
Another Diyarbakır-based Kurdish women’s organization is the ‘SELIS Women’s Association’ (SELIS Kadın Derneği). In 2002, a group of women, who have been active in the Kurdish national movement, established SELIS Women’s Center to provide legal advice, psychological and health care counseling to displaced Kurdish women, who are fifteen years old and above.177 Since 2008, SELIS has pursued its activities as an association and opened its first branch in cooperation with the municipality of Ergani, a town in the Diyarbakır province (SELIS brochure 2010). The primary aim of SELIS is to empower Kurdish women affected by the Kurdish-Turkish war, militarism, displacement, poverty, patriarchal traditions, and violence (Ibid.). Like KAMER, SELIS conducts surveys to identify the problems and needs of Kurdish women living in the Kurdish region and aims to develop solutions accordingly. It encourages women to articulate their social, economic, and political demands freely and to become active political subjects that are sensitive to women’s issues (Ibid.).
SELIS pursues its activities on a voluntary basis and hosts lawyers, psychological counsellors, and sociologists under its umbrella. In particular, volunteering lawyers play a highly important role by advising women in legal issues regarding family affairs, marriage, and domestic violence. SELIS has also a non-hierarchical structure. Active members build working committees on the issues at hand, take decisions democratically, and launch the projects. It
177 Personal interview with the member of the executive committee Perihan Kaya from SELIS, November 2010, Diyarbakır. Prior to SELIS, she has worked in the umbrella organization called the ‘Free Democratic Women’s Movement’ (Demokratik Özgür Kadın Hareketi, DÖKH) that is formed by women activists of the Kurdish DTP.
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regularly collaborates with other active women’s organizations in Diyarbakır to develop projects to empower Kurdish women in the Kurdish region.178 It uses the local media to inform the public about its activities. The municipal council of Diyarbakır, run by the BDP, is one of the largest supporters of the organization, providing it with space for public events and gatherings and financial support. SELIS assists also the projects of the ‘Diyarbakır Research and Implementation Center for Women’s Problems’ (Diyarbakır Kadın Sorunlarını Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi, DIKASUM) of the ‘Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality’. In our interview, Perihan Kaya remarked that SELIS takes a distant stance towards KAMER and does not cooperate with it. Despite being active in the same city and working on similar issues, KAMER’s distant approach towards the BDP is not approved by SELIS.
The third Kurdish women’s CSO under consideration is the ‘Van Women’s Association’
(Van Kadın Derneği, VAKAD). In April 2004, a small group of Kurdish professional women formed VAKAD in Van179, after attending the women’s human rights training programs of the WWHR.
VAKAD’s primary aim is to empower women’s status in every sphere of life. Since its establishment, it has conducted women’s rights training programs in assistance with WWHR and recruited volunteers through these programs.180 VAKAD focuses on three issues: 1) raising women’s awareness of their legal rights, 2) advocacy and lobbying for strengthening women’s rights, and 3) counseling victims of domestic violence. It runs a women’s shelter and a counseling center for women who were subjected to domestic violence. Moreover, VAKAD helps women to find employment and directs them to CSOs and governmental institutions that offer financial support to women. The organization regularly prepares reports on its activities, submits draft law proposals to the Turkish Parliament demanding substantial changes in the legal framework, and lobbies MPs and government officials for women-friendly changes in state policies.
178 SELIS works together with the Kardelen Women’s Association, Ceren Women’s Association, Umut Işığı Women, Environment and Culture Cooperative, Bağlar Women’s Cooperative, Stop Violence Law Office, and Genel Gündem Women’s Council.
179 Van is the largest Kurdish populated province in eastern Turkey.
180 Personal communication with Zozan Özgökçe, the founder of VAKAD, November 2010. Özgökçe is an accountant and has a small firm, which operates in the same office with VAKAD. She mentioned that at the beginning it was necessary to finance the rent and additional expenses of VAKAD through her accounting firm.
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Zozan Özgökçe, the founder of VAKAD, frequently attends international conferences and panels on women’s rights to present VAKAD’s activities. On the national level, VAKAD cooperates with different women’s CSOs on platforms such as the ‘Women’s Labor and Employment Initiative’ (Kadın Emeği ve İstihdamı Girişimi, KEIG) and the Turkish branch of the
‘International Criminal Court Coalition’. On the international level, it works with the European Women Lobby (EWL). To promote its activities and reach more women, it conducts diverse cultural activities. It hosts, for instance, every year the women’s film festival called the
‘FILMMOR Women’s Movies Festival’. VAKAD conveys information about its activities through social media (Facebook and Twitter), their own website, and mail lists. Its activities are mainly financed through funds and donations. Majority of its funding comes from international institutions like the ‘Global Fund for Women’ and the EU Commission, and from foreign embassies in Turkey. VAKAD also receives grants from national donors such as the state-led
‘Eastern Anatolia Development Program’ (Doğu Anadolu Kalkınma Programı) and the private Sabancı Foundation. Membership fees constitute only a minor part of VAKAD’s income. Different than SELIS, VAKAD cooperates with both state institutions and the BDP in its activities.
Majority of the members of these Kurdish women’s CSOs define themselves as feminists, but they underscore their Kurdish identity. While KAMER and VAKAD can be labeled Kurdish feminist, SELIS can be defined as Kurdish women’s group. Members and volunteers are mostly in their 20s and 30s, only Nebahat Akkoç and some other founding members of KAMER are in their 50s. Table (8.1) sums up some information about these three organizations.
Table (8.1): KURDISH WOMEN’S CSOs
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