Women from different countries including Britain, Tunisia, India, Cyprus and Palestine shared their opinions and experiences during the two-day “Cross-border Feminist Meetings” organization by Istanbul Amargi on 26-27 May.

Speaking at the panel discussion, Nil Mutluer underlined that the main target of the meeting was to create a different sense and an alternative course of politics.

Reporting on the event, Bianet underlined that another speaker Nükhet Sirman made a speech on the effects of war on women and pointed out that women needed to think about ways to transform the environment where men die and women cry.

In a speech via video recording, Pýnar Selek said that feminism and anti-militarism should stand together and stated that the violence environment would be inevitable without resolving the relation between militarism’s pressure and gender mainstreaming. Selek noted that the women in Turkey should get organized through a democratic and anti-militarist feminism.

The panel discussion continued with Cynthia Cockburn’s question “What should be done to end war?” and discussions on the stance men should take in this movement. Cockburn defended that men should object to the militarism- patriarchy relation by standing by the feminist and anti-militarist movement of women.

The last speech was made by Parvin Ardalan who held a discussion on the current situation in Iran and on ways how women should develop an anti-war stance under these circumstances. Ardalan called attention to the importance of the necessary cooperation between the feminist and anti-militarist movements, adding that women should display their power for this purpose.