The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Democratic Local Governments Board Member Sevil Rojbin, who was subjected to physical torture by the police while being detained, commentates on the responsibilities and difficulties of being a Kurdish woman politician in Turkey:
“Being a woman politician means making an effort and endeavoring to build democratic politics with the will of women.”
Sevil Rojbin Çetin, a member of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Democratic Local Government Board and Tevgera Jinên Azad (TJA), who was subjected to police brutality with dogs and physical torture during a raid on her house in Diyarbakır in 2020 as part of an investigation launched by the Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. She was arrested on charges of “becoming a member of a terrorist organization” and has been jailed pending trial since two years.
Speaking to Çatlak Zemin, Sevil Rojbin Çetin commentates on the the attacks against Kurdish women’s movement and Kurdish women politicians and grounds for struggle.
As a woman who stepped into politics at the age of 20, what do you think it means to be a woman politician?
In fact, I find the meaning of being a woman politician in answering the question of “Why politics?” As a Kurdish woman, I stepped into politics in order to have a voice and take an action against the politicide against the Kurdish society, which has a long history.
Politics is one of the most dynamic areas of women’s struggle. The autonomous organization of women in the Kurdish political movement was an important phase in the political history. Women’s political struggle has gained a new momentum in every period. Being a woman politician is a part of the Kurdish women’s struggle, which is large and wide-ranging. It means multi-faceted struggle against the masculine mentality. It means means making an effort and endeavoring to build democratic politics with the will of women.
Attacks on the Kurdish women’s movement and on Kurdish women politicians continue unabated. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that more pressure is exerted on women politicians. It is no coincidence that they tortured you when they raided your house. What would you like to say about this?
None of the oppression, violence, torture and massacres against women is a coincidence. Every woman or women’s structure that struggles against this is systematically suppressed.
However, when it comes to the Kurdish women’s movement and the activist women politicians, the oppression and intimidation become more intense. Politicide increased even more during the AKP rule aiming to illegalize and criminalize the Kurdish women’s movement. They do not accept a woman who is politicized and socializes politics. There is only one explanation for these attacks, repression and arrests. That is to deny and ignore the struggle for existence of the Kurdish women’s movement. In addition to this, it is to burn the bridges between the Kurdish women’s movement, which has been struggling socially and politically for many years, and the women’s movements in Turkey, to break the solidarity, to distance every woman who struggle against male-dominated mentality and to break their unity.
We know you because of a speech you gave at the Conference of Women Shelters. The conference is an important ground for building bridges between women from different provinces and different tendencies to fight against male violence. How do you evaluate it and what can be done to strengthen the relations and the grounds of struggle between different women’s groups in Turkey?
I see the Conference of Women Shelters, as the ground that adds meaning to the union of differences with its colour, sound and power. Breathing that atmosphere and being a part of it, even as a speaker, is to maintain its meaning for me.
We have reason to strengthen women’s unity and increase solidarity in Turkey. I think that we need to stick together against the masculine mentality that vindicates our differences and tendencies and divides us, and that we do not give up on each other. We should be in solidarity with the richness of differences. Collective networks can be developed. Conferences, workshops or programs can be held to strengthen the bridges between us. Large-scale regional actions, activities, visits can be planned against politicide. National-international campaigns can be organized.
Actually, what I have just mentioned exists and has developed with the style that left its mark on different historical periods. I think that it is necessary to make us feel stronger and together in the face of the mentality that sometimes wants to stop to this.
*Translated into English by SES Equality, Justice, Women Platform.
You can read the full interview here.