{"id":1099,"date":"2015-11-20T08:35:41","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T08:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.csbronline.org\/?p=1099"},"modified":"2015-11-29T15:09:19","modified_gmt":"2015-11-29T15:09:19","slug":"urgent-call-for-support-solidarity-from-womens-and-lgbti-organizations-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csbronline.org\/?p=1099","title":{"rendered":"Urgent Call for Support & Solidarity from Women’s and LGBTI Organizations in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

19 November 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Violence in the Middle East and Turkey escalates with each passing day. While the world\u2019s eyes turn to the tragic attacks in Paris, what we are experiencing at present in our country is much more extreme than the past, and we are deeply worried about what tomorrow will bring. It seems like our very future, our fundamental human rights, and the most basic right to life are under threat. For the past 40 years, Turkey has been in a state of war that has deeply affected our society, especially women and girl-children in eastern Turkey, and it has become impossible to prevent severe rights violations. Since Turkey\u2019s June 7th<\/sup> 2015 general elections, in a context of escalating violence and military operations, which have continued after the recent November1st<\/sup>snap elections, the Human Rights Association reports that: 262 civilian lives have been lost (602 lives in total, including soldiers, police and Kurdish militants); 759 people have been wounded; 5,713 have been detained; and 1,004 people arrested.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

In these conflicts in the Kurdish region, concentrated mostly in the provinces of Diyarbak\u0131r, Hakkari and \u015e\u0131rnak, in the towns of Cizre, Silvan, Nusaybin, Silopi and many others, some settlements have endured blockades and 24-hour curfews of over 10 days, threatening the lives of civilians, especially women, girl-children, and LGBTI people. While the people of these regions cannot even obtain the most basic necessities for life, like water, food, and electricity, thousands of them are being forced to leave their homes. Additionally, they cannot access health services: it has been reported that between August and October 2015, 300 women in the towns of Hakkari province (\u015eemdinli and Y\u00fcksekova) who could not leave their homes have had miscarriages or are in danger of suffering miscarriages due to the extreme stress and trauma they are undergoing.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

As Turkey\u2019s women\u2019s and LGBTI movements,we have repeatedly raised our voices to call for peace.\u00a0 However, at this moment, it is critically urgent that international solidarity networks be established with the women living in these conflict zones. To do this together with your support, thesignatories to this statement (listed below) appeal to you:<\/p>\n