The HDP Women's Council is meeting in Ankara to discuss further action against the party ban and the denunciation of the Istanbul Convention. In the run-up to the meeting, co-chair Pervin Buldan issued a combative statement.
The Women's Council of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has met in Ankara for a special session. The meeting is about the ban on the HDP and the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention ordered by presidential decree a week ago.
Before the start of the meeting, HDP co-chair Pervin Buldan, together with many other women politicians, issued a press statement in which she first extended greetings to the women politicians and activists in Turkish prisons. Then she went into the struggles of the women's movement: "Every year we women celebrate March 8 as a day of struggle and every year we become stronger, braver and more. This year's March 8 we celebrated louder and more determined than ever. No house arrest, no jail, no handcuffs, no threats, and none of the other 1001 forms of illegality have been able to stop women on March 8. On the contrary, our ranks grew stronger. We celebrated Newroz with the same strength and enthusiasm. Millions of women took to the streets and squares everywhere on Newroz against the fascist one-man regime and the war declared against women, showing that women are an invincible and unstoppable force. This Newroz was a Newroz of women. Women stood up to the male rulers and said: 'You cannot intimidate us! You cannot ban us!' And we will continue to say that."
The male rulers are well aware of the strength of women, Buldan continued: "This is why they are waging war against women and their fought-for rights above all. This is why a single man, with a single signature, stages a coup in the middle of the night against the Istanbul Convention, which was fought for by women and guarantees their lives and rights. This is a coup against the legal order. The dissolution of the convention is an invitation to crimes against women and children. At the same time, it means the usurpation of the will of women, the people and the parliament of this country."
The HDP chairwoman announced that not a single article from the Istanbul Convention would be left to the arbitrariness of a patriarchal one-man government: "We promise this to all women as the largest opposition force and as a women's party."
Following the press conference, the HDP's Women's Council withdrew to discuss further action.
