Neslihan Kardaş

 

WAN - Neslihan Şedal said, "For a healthy peace process, it is essential that people have the ability to govern their own cities. Peace cannot be made with a people whose will is ignored."

 

On February 27, Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan called for an end to the 52-year-long conflict in Kurdistan, Turkey, and the Middle East, as well as for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. Dubbed the "Call of the Century," the "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" opened a new door. Since then, the process has continued, and following the Kurdish People's Leader's calls and messages, the PKK has decided to dissolve and end the armed struggle. 

 

However, the absence of steps from the state and government, apart from the commission established in parliament, raises questions while all these developments are taking place. Additionally, ongoing policies create distrust among the public.

 

Neslihan Şedal, the co-mayor of Wan Metropolitan Municipality who was replaced by a trustee, commented on the process and the trustee policies that continue despite it.

 

'Women will lead this process'

 

Neslihan Şedal emphasized that the politics in Turkey has evolved into a different dimension after Abdullah Öcalan's call. Neslihan Şedal stated that the polarizing political language has evolved into a language in which peace can be talked about and the establishment of peace can be talked about, even if partially, and said, "Of course, although there are some groups who are against this, we think that a positive path is being followed in the direction of socialization. Especially from the women's side, we see that the possibility that this process can be healthy, that it can evolve into a peace process and that values such as peace, justice and democracy, which the peoples long for, can flourish in these lands again, is welcomed with great excitement. Women have shown great ownership of this process. At the same time, I can also say that women can lead this process."

 

'The nation-state mind targets women's truth in the first place'

 

Neslihan Şedal said that Abdullah Öcalan's call also represents a renaissance for women, "Abdullah Öcalan has also stated that no social problem can be solved without solving the women's liberation problem, and that the liberation of society is linked to the liberation of women. Now what does this process mean for us, what does it mean for women, what does it mean for the peoples, maybe we should stop here. There is a mind that capitalist modernity has institutionalized itself with: the nation-state mind. We always express this. Unfortunately, the nation-state mind builds itself through misogynist policies by targeting the truth of women in the first place."

 

'The cause of the Kurdish problem is the blockage of democratic politics'

 

Neslihan Şedal, reminding that the Kurdish people have been struggling to preserve their existence against the policies of annihilation, denial and assimilation for a hundred years, said: "At the stage we have reached as a result of a 52-year struggle, Öcalan expressed in this call that the 52-year struggle should evolve into a different dimension. He stated that the new program of the process is the democratic society program, the strategy is democratic politics and the tactic can be developed through constitutional arrangements. Abdullah Öcalan emphasized that the main reason for the emergence of the Kurdish freedom problem was the lack of a constitution and the blockage of the democratic political arena."

 

'The call on February 27th offers the possibility to live free'

 

Neslihan Şedal stated that the development of war, deaths and a great policy of female genocide and the emergence of a wave of migration in countries that want to be governed with the nation-state mind has shown itself very clearly. Neslihan Şedal said, "The disruption of the balance in the Middle East and the emergence of the fact that countries cannot determine their future with war and massacre policies has made it necessary for the process to end in peace. Abdullah Öcalan, as the leader of the peoples, has been proposing a tremendous paradigm for the Kurdish people and the peoples of the region and the world for decades. A democratic, ecological and women's liberationist paradigm. The model of democratic confederalism offers the possibility for everyone to be the will of the place where they live with their own beliefs, identities, ideas and social values, and to live a free, equal and just life together. The February 27 call was a declaration of this. A proposal was put forward in which the peoples can establish a say in their own lands with their own will and live with their own values."

 

'Peace cannot be made with a people whose will is ignored'

 

Neslihan Şedal pointed out that one of the most fundamental conditions of this process is respect for the will of the people and said, "It is also imperative that politicians who have been in prison for many years and especially sick prisoners are released, the isolation is lifted and an uninterrupted dialog is opened. The commission going to İmralı for talks, the Kurdish language gaining status, and every people having the right to education in their mother tongue are the basic conditions for this process. The ability of peoples to govern their own cities with their own will is a sine qua non for a healthy peace process. Peace cannot be made with a people whose will is ignored."

 

'It is the greatest duty of women to embrace the call'

 

Neslihan Şedal finally said the following: "When we strengthen the women's struggle, peace will be possible and society will be democratized. It is the biggest duty of women to embrace the call made by Mr. Abdullah Öcalan. If we knit this process strongly, our comrades in prisons will be freed, our mother tongue will gain status, peoples will be able to govern themselves with their own will and we will find stronger solutions to the social problems in our cities."