The ‘2025-2029 Women's Strategic Planning Workshop’ organised by the Van Metropolitan Municipality at a hotel in the city continued with sessions. Women participating in the workshop emphasised the importance of managing the city from a female perspective.

Speaking at the workshop, Refika Sönmez, Head of Women's Policies Department of Van Metropolitan Municipality, stated that gender inequality permeates all areas of life and said: “An approach that will end gender inequality should be a priority in urban planning, urban policies and all the services to be carried out. Although 50 percent of city dwellers are women, their representation and employment rate are quite low. Women's participation in urban management, active participation in the restructuring of the city and the creation of social spaces is extremely important to ensure gender equality."

Emphasising that women should take part in strategic planning, Refika Sönmez continued: “It is imperative that our municipality's policies, vision and universal public services for women are implemented in a healthy way. In this context, we need to reveal the needs map of the strategic plan. In addition, it is important for the construction of a brand city that all processes to be carried out within our department are communicated to citizens and non-governmental organisations through various communication methods in accordance with the principle of transparency. All women should be included in the 5-year strategic plan through democratic participation. At this point, it should be known that strategic planning is a long-term approach and requires a change in individual and institutional mindset."

Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Muş MP Sümeyye Boz said: “As the Kurdish women's movement, we have taken part in local governments in the last 25 years or even longer in our struggle that has existed for centuries, and we have proven a serious experience. The Kurdish women's movement is not a movement that exists on the basis of propaganda or its position. It is a structure that aims to institutionalise and socialise. In this sense, local governments are the most accessible place to achieve the desired socialisation."

Sümeyye Boz said that the ‘women's libertarian, democratic and ecological’ paradigm is essential for them and stated that women can exist in society and in all areas of life with this paradigm. Pointing out that the realisation of women's policies in local governments is important for the city, Sümeyye Boz said. “Our women's work was the first target of the trustees. Many women's organisations were closed down by the trustees. The destruction of the trustees left all cities dysfunctional. These strategic plans will add strength to the power of women."

Politician Sebahat Tuncel pointed out that it is not easy for women to take part in politics and said: “It is very important that women dare and say “I am here too”. One feels proud in the face of this scene. In the past, there were not so many women around the table. Now it is very important that they exist with their own colour, language, identity and culture. We have a male-dominated capitalist system in front of us, but we also have a system that defends a democratic, ecological and women's libertarian paradigm.

The male-dominated system first devalued women's labour. Doing so, it also devalued women. Five thousand years of male-dominated system has squandered all the values created by women. It carried out its attacks against the woman who rules and builds the values of society. The first sexual rupture was precisely the period when all the roles of women were stolen and they were locked in the house. Of course, ruling is an art. Politics is an art. If you do it well, you will lead society to a good point, if you manage it badly, you will become a despot. As women, why do we reject the male style, the hierarchical, tyrant approach? Because women adopt a style in which they understand each other through negotiation, dialogue and include each other in management."

Underlining that a government without women would not be democratic, Sebahat Tuncel said that they have been struggling against the mentality that ignores and excludes half of the society for years and as a result they have gained a place in the governments. Tuncel continued: “We discussed co-presidency based on the example of Germany. We signed a petition to the Parliament on the basis of “equal administration”. It was de facto implemented during the period of Aysel Tuğluk and Ahmet Türk. We had a lot of problems even when it was being implemented de facto. We still have not overcome this mentality. Because men see themselves as the owner of that seat. As a result of struggles, the co-presidency system was widely accepted by the society."

Sebahat Tuncel reminded Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's words ‘Society cannot be liberated without the liberation of women’ and added: "We have a paradigm against the mentality that ignores and excludes the women's liberation struggle, and with this paradigm we are taking a place in the administrations. As our President said, we cannot bring a society into being without the liberation of women. If there are no women, there are no decisions. As women, we have been struggling for this for years. As long as we unite on this path, this path will lead us to very good points. Believing is half of success, so we believe that a free life will exist, and we are fighting for it. There is only one thing I know; if there is movement, there is life, if there is hope, there is victory."