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Peace in Kurdistan Campaign:
Press Release
Professor Mary Davis, academic, trade unionist and elected member of the TUC women’s committee, will be travelling to southeast Turkey as part of an international solidarity delegation this Friday.
The delegation is organised by CENI – Women’s Office for Peace and supported by the London-based Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, with financial support provided by the Lipman-Miliband Trust, UNISON South Lanarkshire and UNITE Northwest London branch. In total, 11 women from across Europe will take part in the delegation, which aims to express solidarity and practical support to women’s initiatives in the Kurdish region of Turkey.
Professor of Labour History, formerly Head of Centre for Trade Union Studies, and founder of the Charter for Women campaign, Mary Davis will travel to the largest city in Turkey’s Kurdish region, Diyarbakir (Amed), to join the international delegates and visit many organisations in the area that aim to promote and strengthen women’s rights. One such project is the Amed Women’s Academy, a school for adults that promotes cooperation and reciprocal learning between women, another is the first women-led news agency in Turkey, Jinha. By connecting with these groups, and other grassroots women’s groups and trade unions, the delegation aims to develop international networks of support for their work and cause, and raise awareness of their work in Europe and the UK.
This delegation comes at a critical time for Kurdish women in Turkey and for the struggle for Kurdish rights in general. Military operations in the border territories are escalating and the Kurdish community in Turkey is suffering in the midst of a violent crackdown on political and civic organizing, resulting in the arrest of over 8000 people since April 2009. Indeed, one of the most recent police raids in Ankara resulted in the arrest of 71 trade union members, for alleged links to illegal organisations. In this context, as ever, Kurdish women are finding way of being active and are on the frontline of the fight for political, social, cultural and economic rights for themselves and their community.
Photo – Rudaw
For further information on the delegation, or the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign, contact:
Peace in Kurdistan, Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh – Tel: 020 7272 7890
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Alyn Smith MEP, Bairbre de Brún MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Mark Thomas
CENÎ Kurdisches Frauenbüro für Frieden e.V.
Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace
Corneliusstrasse 125 D- 40215 Düsseldorf, Germany
Tel.: 0049 (0)211 598 92 51 E-mail: ceni_frauen@gmx.de
