The Free Women's Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA) organised a conference titled "Chain of Silence: Breaking the Walls Surrounding Women Political Prisoners". The two-day conference, which started on Saturday, ended after the workshops on the second day.

During the closing forum titled “How can we move forward together?", Dr. Shahrzad Mojab made a presentation titled "From Dialogue to Action: Developing cooperation strategies and creating concrete and measurable plans for women political prisoners".

Shahrzad Mojab, who connected to the conference online, drew attention to the violence against women in Iranian prisons.

‘Prisons are real stories’

Pointing out that sexual violence is used as a torture system especially against women, Shahrzad Mojab said, "When we look at the political agenda, we are all responsible for this. It is necessary to break this chain of silence. It is necessary to document and archive them. It is of great importance locally to carry them to the international arena. These need to be transformed. While telling these stories, my aim is to draw attention to torture and survival. Going beyond a cultural interpretation, attention should be drawn to the oppressive attacks of Turkey and Iran. It is necessary to unite in solidarity."

Stating that the state manipulates violence, Shahrzad Mojab said: "Prisons are real stories. As you know, there are some repressions and revolts. This is how the revolution took place in Iran. It was born carrying the seeds of its own defeat. Although I am out of prison, I am not free from the violence of the state. If you are out of prison, you have a responsibility wherever you are. We need to prevent global punishment."

'Fascist games are being played'

Noting that there are an incredible number of political prisoners of women in the Middle East, Shahrzad Mojab continued: "We must all directly challenge the rules and social norms, because they violate women's rights. Nationalist, capitalist and imperialist forces are playing fascist games. Platforms have been established that only create destruction. I am talking about the lives of Kurds in Syria and Turkey, where women are sold as 'sex workers', imprisoned in care labour, and many women are rendered disabled. The majority of people are completely deprived of their lives. Their right to life is being taken away. The current wars are a war of civilisations. The policy of war also serves domination."

Shahrzad Mojab also pointed to the continuing international silence and lack of solidarity and said, "A very important report was published in 2018. It was about the situation of political prisoners in the Middle East. It was called 'silent genocide'. It is said that the number of political prisoners has increased and the pressure in the region has increased. It increased because those people criticised the state. This is an alarming situation for all of us. In Syria, as a result of the civil war, approximately 118,000 individuals have been arrested, forcibly disappeared and their rights have been constantly violated. They are condemned to live in appalling conditions. It is stated that there are about 60 thousand political prisoners in Egypt. In Israel, we know that there are about 10,000 prisoners. There is incredible pressure on activists in Iran. People in prison were subjected to incredible pressure during the 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadî' (Woman, Life, Freedom) protests. The proportion of Kurds among political prisoners is very high; 40 percent".

'All political prisoners must be freed'

Emphasising that women's struggle is very important, Shahrzad Mojab concluded as follows: "The freedom of every political prisoner here is an important slogan. This means that this demand is not only about the abolition of the prison system here, but also about the abolition of authoritarian regimes. This is the content of the slogan 'Woman, Life, Freedom'. It is an important platform established for the freedom of all political prisoners and the solidarity of international organisations."

Mojab's presentation ended with a question and answer session.

'Women's politics is a unifying force'

After the presentation, the closing speech was made by Gülbahar Alpsoy from TJA, who stated: "This conference was not only an exchange of experiences. It will be meaningful if these experiences become organised. In the 4 workshops held in connection with this, perhaps it will be an important step for us to evolve our experiences into an organisation."

Stating that women are always strong together, Alpsoy said: "Sovereigns and states established borders. Those who established borders also separated beliefs according to colours and languages, and separated people from each other by the logic of divide and rule. The main policy of women is their unifying power. Women also have the philosophy of reconstruction with a democratic nation perspective." 

'Society will breathe if Imrali isolation is broken'

Alpsoy continued: "Women and children are the ones who suffer. In these very seconds, attack are being carried out on Rojava. These attacks are an intervention against Kurdish gains. As women, it is women themselves who will put a stop to war and occupation. It is very important to produce policies against these attacks. Our conference, which we call the chain of silence, was a conference against torture and rights violations, and most of all against the current isolation policies. If we are to break all attacks in prisons and in all areas of life, first, it is necessary to understand the isolation of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı well and to reveal a state of organisation to break this isolation which is aggravated further every day. The isolation that started in Imrali affects all areas of life of society today and has made it unable to breathe. Society needs to breathe, and this can be achieved by breaking the isolation in İmralı. As the Kurdish Women's Movement, we have never run away from the truth."

‘Women will break the chains’

Stating that it is women who will break the chains of silence, Alpsoy said, "Although the rulers want to keep us in the dark, we will not remain in this darkness. It is women who will break the chains, it is women's conscience, morality and justice. Women can achieve this together. It does not matter which country we live in."