Write Letters to our Friends in Prison!
PS. In May 30, 2017, Bergül Varan who is the sister of Betül Varan, one of the vocalists of Grup Yorum which is one of the leftist music groups, members of which are frequently arrested and concerts of which are cancelled, and was taken into custody during a police raid at Idil Cultural Center in Istanbul, was tortured by her hair being torn out from their roots as it is seen in the photograph, in the action force vehicle where she was kept for two hours.
We, the women activists in Turkey, make a call to the international society to stand in solidarity with our friends in prison. Support us in our joint action by writing open letters to them.
In our letters, we are sharing our memories, stories, thoughts, and wishes about our friends who are detained or arrested, or convicted… They are women rights activists, politicians, journalists, authors, and lawyers… We marched together at every protest with our friends in prison. We organized conferences, panel discussions, festivals. We were side by side when we went to the funerals of femicide victims, when we paid our condolences to their families.
We went together to the court hearings of abused and raped women, of women who defended themselves from the aggressors. Our friends wrote our petitions against violence and discrimination and took them to Parliament. They represented us. They demanded the municipalities to open day-care centres for children, to build safe houses for domestic abuse victims, to create equal job opportunities.
Together, we made a vow to fight for women’s freedom!
Together, we defended our rights!
The efforts of those who put our friends behind iron bars are in vain… There is no wall to separate us from each other. There is no turning back, now that we have come this far. And we will write our memories, stories, thoughts, and wishes so that they will forever be remembered. We will meet again and laugh together. We will share a better future.
Let’s write about our friends, let’s write to our friends, in any medium, printed or digital, on our social media accounts. Only a few sentences or full of pages. And please send your letters to arkadasimayaziyorum@gmail.com so that we can collect them
The Fight of Women Can Not Be Judged Initiative
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