Communist women from Communist Party, Turkey, held a conference on women’s issue with the slogan, “Women will not fit into this regime; we will tear down the darkness.”
During the conference, held on March 07th in Ankara, several speeches were delivered on questions, “why does AKP attack women?”, “why are women on the second rank in political struggle?”, “what was the role of women in the resistance of June?”, “why do women constitute a critical sector for the labor movement of the near future?”, “why do we have to base women’s struggle for freedom and equality on a class perspective?”, “is it reductionism to say, ‘women’s liberation will be accomplished in socialism’?”, “why should we involve men in women’s struggle for freedom and equality?”, and “why do we consider the Soviet and Cuban experiences critical for women’s liberation?”.
The conference was followed by a considerable amount of audience and then a press release was made on the street. The press statement read as follows;
“Women’s right to live is in jeopardy in Turkey and in all around the world. Women are subject to discrimination in all aspects of life, deprived of their most fundamental rights such as education and health, and condemned to lower salaries.”
“Religious reactionism aims to wipe women out of social life and make them believe that they are in need of being taken care of and protected by men. Ozgecan, our sister who was brutally murdered a couple of weeks ago, is a victim of this pervert mentality that normalize the idea that women deserve violence, harassment and rape if they are alone on the street.”
“The same violence reigns in households, and the government contents with watching thousands of women beaten, tortured and even killed by their families. Struggle against the AKP government means struggle for women’s right to live. We will stop this aggression in order to be able to walk around without protection of anybody, to be able to make our own decision on whether to be a mother or not, to be able to decide on how to live.”
“We, the Communist Women, are aware that women’s struggle requires a firm rejection of secondary roles that are imposed on women in social and political life. We will raise the flag of enlightenment and socialism, we will organize and we will struggle against reactionism.”
“We call out to all women to join the struggle to build a new homeland.”