Kısa Dalga’s recent interview with Defne Berivan Demir, the only women mukhtar in Siirt, a city in south-eastern Turkey, reveals the impact of her work and the dynamics of being a woman in the region.
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Kısa Dalga, is a media platform that produces investigative journalism, exclusive news, podcasts and videos. Journalist Metin Yoksu interviewed Defne Berivan Demir, the only female mukhtar in Siirt, in a recent exclusive reporting. The podcast revealed the dynamics of being a woman in the region, the prejudices and challenges surrounding Defne Berivan Demir and her resilience to continue her struggle.
The report starts with a captivating quote from Demir: “When you fail, they will say that we have seen this coming, you have failed because you are women. I have shown all that I can succeed.”
As the mukhtar of Atalay Village (Qubanê) in Siirt’s Kurtalan district, Defne Berivan Demir is a part of a very small minority. The representation of women in the local sphere as mukhtars is still very low, at a rate of 2.4 per cent. As Yoksu underlines, Qubanê is one of the rare villages where Arabs, Yazidis and Kurds live together. According to official data while Yazidis and Arabs who own land in the village had to migrate to Europe due to conflict processes, 32 people now live in the village.
Demir, who is also a farmer, underlines that her gender was an issue from the start. As her quote demonstrates:
“During my candidacy process, the people around me said, ‘isn’t there a man to be the mukhtar, why should it be a woman’. There was a lot of chatter. My family supported me a lot, especially my father. When they heard what I did, they began to appreciate it. Working in the public sector or undertaking a public service is difficult in the east. But we have to overcome some things. If you can do that, they appreciate you.”
The podcast also includes the voices of the village inhabitants that demonstrate how they acknowledge Demir’s accomplishments. Her work ranges from building a playground and the construction of a sewage system in the village. One of her priorities now is pressuring for the building of proper roads for the village.
Overall, this exclusive reporting shows the resilience of Demir who ends her remarks with the quote: “women can achieve anything if they want. As long as they want it.”