An Interview with Gülsüm Kav on 25 November, Women's Struggle for Life, Freedom and Hope
Tarih: Date
In the seventh episode of the TEDU Gender Podcast, volunteer member of the center Dr. Burcu Sarı Karademir interviews the General Representative of the Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platform (trans. We Will Stop Femicides), Dr. Gülsüm Kav. The interview that took place on 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women commemorates the Mirabal Sisters, also known as Butterflies, and discusses the lives touched by the struggle of Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platform (We Will Stop Femicides), the struggle in the field, and women's right to life.
Selected by the BBC as one of the 100 most inspiring women in 2020, Dr. Gülsüm Kav said that she was embarrassed to receive the award for doing something that should be done and that she accepted the award on behalf of all women who struggle for their rights at the cost of their lives. Gülsüm Kav and Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platform's fight for rights on defending women's constitutional rights in Türkiye is both imporant and precious for women's right to life today and for the historical context of fight for women's rights in Türkiye.
Dr. Gülsüm Kav shared her valuable experiences and hopefully talked about the establishment of the platform; the concept of femicide; the importance of investigating suspicious deaths; the fact that women are subjected to violence and killed when they want to take their own decisions about their lives and most often while exercising or after having exercised their right to divorce under the Civil Code; the impact of the decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention on women's struggle against violence; the inclusivity of the platform and that the platform defends the right to life regardless of class, sexual orientation, belief or ethnicity; the demand for freedom by women from all segments of society, and the fact that mainstream politics is not even aware of the fact that it lags behind women's demands; the case opened against the platform and its importance in the context of the protection of our constitutional rights; the bond of sisterhood that makes us believe that the platform has never been and will never be left alone by women; the duties of universities in the women's fight for rights; and the liberating family, love and life for a different world.
This interview, which notes the depth of this struggle, is dedicated to the Mirabal Sisters, to women who lost their lives as a result of male violence, to those who have struggled for equality and freedom at the cost of their lives, to feminists whose lives have been woven with the fight for women's rights, and to the 'Purple Butterflies' of Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız (We Will Stop Femicides) Platform, who are the defenders of women's right to life and freedom. We thank Gülsüm Kav and Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız (We Will Stop Femicides) platform with feelings of gratitude on behalf of all the lives they have touched. With determination and hope to continue the struggle for freedom until Nazım Hikmet's dream for humanity, "To live as one and free like a tree, and as unisonally as a forest" becomes a reality for our sisters and all of us...
Click to listen on the Spotify app.
Click to listen on the SoundCloud app.
Click to read the podcast transcript.