International Women's Conference fo

[stk at schism.antenna.nl]

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M.MERLIN at TBX.berlinet.de writes:

## Nachricht zur Information/Dokumentation weitergeleitet
## Orig.-Abs. : akin at kurdish.org (akin)


International Women's Conference for Peace
November 1-3, 1996
Istanbul, Turkey

Subject of the Conference:

- to put an end to the war in Turkey waged against the Kurds, a war which
has been going on for the last 12 years;
- to achieve an active role for women's peace initiatives in finding a
peaceful political solution to the Kurdish question;
- to organize events and initiatives and to establish more active women's
initiatives with the aim of achieving peace.

Aims of the Conference:

- to achieve the active participation of women's movements in peace efforts;
- to highlight the fact that in our society women are the most affected by
the war;
- to seek a solution to the dirty war against the Kurdish people in their
own homeland;
- to expose Turkish state policy toward the Kurdish people;
- to evaluate the suggestions of the participants on the Kurdish question;
- to achieve basic strategies for peace efforts.

        The fundamental rights of our people are being systematically
violated in the homeland of Kurdish women. In reality, the war being waged
against the Kurdish people has gone beyond being a simple violation of
human rights. It has reached the point of aiming at the total annihilation
of the Kurdish people. This fact has been confirmed by independent bodies
and individuals, both nationally and internationally. In Turkey, especially
in those areas where the Kurds live, the right to live, civil security,
freedom of speech and thought, the right to a fair trial, and many other
basic fundamental rights are being violated.
        Kurdish villages and towns are being forcibly evacuated by Turkish
state forces. The Turkish state's policy of the depopulation and
destruction of Kurdish areas is systematic and can only be described as
ethnic cleansing. The main aim of this policy is to destory the demographic
structure of the Kurdish population and to put the Kurds in an ethnic
minority status in their own country. It is also the state's official
policy of "draining the sea to catch the fish". The local economy in the
region has collapsed, woodlands and human settlements have been destroyed,
and even animals have fallen victim to this terror. So far, 2,617 villages
have been either evacuated or razed to the ground.
        Kurdish civilians have been the main victims of this dirty war. And
Kurdish women and children are the ones who suffer the most. Today, when
Turkish soldiers raid Kurdish villages, there are only women left, no men.
They beat the women and curse them. They harass the women and assault their
children before their eyes. The smash all the furniture in the houses, and
they threaten the inhabitants and force them to leave the village.
        Hundreds of Kurdish women are imprisoned in Turkish jails. These
women are regularly tortured with the use of electical shocks and other
methods, including systematic rape by police using truncheons or gun
barrels. Former Democracy Party (DEP) Member of Parliament Leyla Zana has
been imprisoned in Ankara Central Closed Prison since March 1994. She was
sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of supporting terrorism and
separatism after her parliamentary immunity was lifted.
        This tragic situation has imposed more difficult living conditions
on Kurdish women. The strength drawn from the Kurdish resistance, the
dignity of being a woman, of being a mother, a human being, all of this
gives strength to Kurdish women to resist this situation.
        But this dirty war not only has a negative effect on Kurdish women.
Turkish women, in particular Turkish mothers who have lost their sons in
this war, have also suffered great pain. Both Turkish and Kurdish women,
noting that being women is not an obstacle to making efforts aimed at
stopping the war, are hand-in-hand, raising the need for peace. For this
reason we wish to bring together Turkish and Kurdish women and women from
all around the world. Our main slogan will be: "For a world without war!"
The International Women's Conference for Peace will be a platform for
bringing women together for peace.

If you would like more information about the International Women's
Conference for Peace in Istanbul, or if you would like to register to
attend, please contact the organizers at the following address:

Mrs. Nebehat Akkoc
c/o Human Rights Association (IHD)
Inonu Cad. Oryil Tabibler Sitesi 6-32
Diyarbakir, Turkey

Tel: +90-412-223-4526 or 224-6814
Fax: +90-312-285-2200 or 285-2297

There is also a contact address in Germany:

Vorbereitungskomitee der Internationalen Frauenkonferenz
c/o DEM News Agency
Eigelstein 103-113
50668 Cologne, Germany

Tel: +49-221-120063
Fax: +49-221-120060


----
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2623 Connecticut Avenue NW #1
Washington, DC 20008-1522

Tel: (202) 483-6444
Fax: (202) 483-6476
E-mail: akin at kurdish.org
Home Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~akin
----

"The American Kurdish Information Network (AKIN) provides a public service
to foster Kurdish-American understanding and friendship"



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stk at schism.antenna.nl
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