Our campaign aims at putting end to occupation, limiting systematic extermination of women

On October 12, a number of personalities and representatives of women's organizations in the ME announced an initiative under the slogan "Against the Occupation and the Extermination of Women, for the Sake of Security and Peace", to work on documenting the crimes, especially the Turkish occupation ones against women.

In order to get familiarized with the campaign goals, we interviewed the Chair of the Jane Women’s Association in Beirut, Bushra Ali.

The text of the dialogue as follow:

* Where was the idea of this initiative born, what motivated you to launch it?

The international community is aware that the Middle East and North Africa is on the verge of impossibility  due to the capitalist powers interference in the path of popular uprisings that erupted since the end of the first decade of the current century, militarizing, suppressing them, and paving the way to Salafi and jihadist gangs and the atonement to wreak corruption, destruction and abuse in our blessed region, as a result, some rulers were overthrown, others stepped down, while some still cling to the rule though it led to the phenomenon of " A ruined country without a people!"

This reckless that has been ravaging most of the eastern region countries, women and children were the first victims that suffered the repercussions of displacement, rape, harassment, assault, unemployment, poverty, murder, abuse and early marriage.

As the Turkish occupation interference escalated in the Middle East and North Africa, victimizing women in the first place in a systematic manner that amounts to genocide at all levels, many women's associations and organizations in many countries discussed this matter, then we came up with an idea to hold meeting via Zoom to refine, frame, name and chart this idea.

* Would you like to touch upon the importance of the discussions in your meeting which you concluded the announcement of this initiative?

The importance of the discussions comes from the convergence of the views of all the associations and personalities, Perhaps the first common denominator among all societies is the suffering as women from the repercussions of the direct Turkish occupation (northern Kurdistan / Turkey, Syria, Libya as a model), or from the blatant Turkish interference in the affairs of countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt as a model and that the repercussions of the Turkish occupation are primarily embodied in the suffering of women,( Syria as an example ) and that Turkish interventions also fuel sectarian and strife more and more, than it increases the complexity of the situation and rooted crises (Lebanon and Iraq as an example).

The societies also pointed to the danger of "political Islam" as a mask that some regional countries use to pass their interests, influence in the form of a Sunni or a Shiite crescent, with the blessing of the major powers, generally speaking, in this respect.

Most societies also touched on the need to act as women's associations in the Middle East and North Africa, in a manner that transcends borders and nationalities, and all that disperses the energies of women, in order to actually be able to stop and end the occupation as a general goal, and limit the systematic extermination of women as a primary goal. Some women emphasized the role of international forces and the international legal institutions concerned with extending the Turkish state courage to its violations, whether by remaining silent, or by lighting a green light for it to mess in countries with karmic corruption and devastation for the interests of the global capitalist forces of modernity that are concerned only with profit and the seizure of energy resources.

* What are the institutions signatory to this initiative, and from which countries?

Currently, women's associations from seven countries are participating, namely: Turkey, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, Tunisia, and Egypt. Every person who participated in the meeting is an organized member of at least one women's association, and the names of the personalities and associations are included in the joint statement issued by the aforementioned meeting, which led to the idea of declaring the initiative under the name "The Initiative against Occupation and the Extermination of Women, for the sake of security and peace."

We can mention the names of some of the associations that contributed to the founding and of this initiative by way of mentioning but not limited to:

Turkey: The Free Women Movement (TJA)

Syria: Organization of Kongra Star, the Women’s Council for North and East Syria, and the Syriac Women’s Union.

Iraq: the Iraqi Women's League, and the women's wing of the Zhamat kishani Kurdistan party.

Lebanon: the Women's Committee in the Hunchak Party, and the Jane Women's League.

Egypt: New Woman League.

* What are your activities and programs after announcing this initiative? How and when will you start with them?

Despite the rich discussions regarding the activities and plans that we have to carry out, whether in a joint and simultaneous manner, or each in his own region and country; However, it is too early to talk about it or refer to it now, as it is necessary first to give sufficient time for associations and other active women figures in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa to get acquainted with this initiative.

 That is, now the most important work is focused on introducing this initiative on the largest scale locally, regionally or internationally, and then opening the door to other women's associations and personalities wishing to join this initiative, in conjunction with that, the plans and activities that we intend to undertake in at the right time and place, let everyone await our initiative and its activities.

* In the text of the statement there was a phrase referring to the work to monitor and document all violations against women, and expose to the public opinion. How will you do that, and to which bodies will you present these documents?

Yes, the societies emphasized the importance and necessity of monitoring and documenting all violations of the Turkish state against women, exposing and disseminating them to the public opinion in order to know the truth and limit falsification of facts and from the policy of obscurantism, distortion existing in full swing, and to form effective public pressure on the widest scale to end the catastrophic tragedies that women and the country suffer from.

All these documents, most of which were collected locally in many of the concerned countries of his time, will be submitted to the relevant international authorities and institutions in order to break their silence and thus from their objective partnership in war crimes and crimes against humanity committed, and to play their role in stopping the Turkish occupation and holding them accountable. And to prosecute those responsible for the genocide, dispersal, and subjugation of societies through the extermination of women.

* Did you mean the announcement of the initiative on October 12 specifically, or was it by chance?

We intended, of course, to set October 12, 2020 as the date to announce the initiative, because it marks the first anniversary of the martyrdom of the Secretary General of the Future Syria Party, the martyr Hevrin Khalaf, whose name the whole world knew after she was assassinated by some mercenary gangs calling for political Islam and affiliated with the Turkish state, Thus, the date of announcing this initiative will be an explicit response from these women's organizations through this initiative to its decisive and firm stance on the issue of political Islam on the one hand, and on the issue of occupation and the extermination of women on the other hand.

ANHA