The Co-presidency Council of the European umbrella organization of the Kurdish diaspora KCDK-E classifies the increasing cases of sexual violence and femicides in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan in the context of the war against the Kurdish freedom and democracy efforts.

"Women are specifically targeted and become the target of violence and murders. Rape is practiced as a method of special warfare and the perpetrators remain unpunished, even promoted. Thus, further crimes of this kind are incited. Ipek Er, who was raped by a soldier and driven to suicide, is the most concrete example. The murderer of Ipek Er is none other than the Turkish state," says a statement published by KCDK-E on impunity for rapists from the ranks of the military.

The number of kidnappings and rapes in Kurdistan is increasing

This policy of impunity is reflected in an increasing number of abductions of women, rapes and patriarchal violence in Kurdistan, the association says and warns that women who experience these crimes are repeatedly driven to suicide by these attacks. "The special war of the AKP/MHP regime includes rape, massacres but also the coercion to suicide. This is intended to show that they want to destroy the will of women. All rapes and murders are committed with the knowledge of the state.”

“Attacks on women seek to crush the determination”

The statement continues: “The special war is directed particularly against women, since they play a leading role in the struggle for freedom. In this way, the Turkish state is trying to break the determination of Kurdish women as a whole. Women's institutions in particular become the target of attacks and imprisonment in this context. Thus the Kurdish woman, the will of the Kurds and their struggle for freedom is wanted to be destroyed. In the face of this annihilation policy, our only way out is the resistance.”

The KCDK-E calls for vigilance against such attacks, stressing that the struggle must be expanded and women's freedom must be defended on all levels.