Tevgare Jinen Azad (Free Women's Movement, TJA) issued a written statement regarding 21 February, International Mother Language Day. The statement said that the language, culture and beliefs in Mesopotamia have been targeted by a banning mentality throughout history and that this is still the case today with the AKP regime.

The statement underlined how the ‘single language’ mentality is continuing with the AKP regime and added that in the 21st century education in one’s own mother language in Turkey is still forbidden for the “shame of the government.”

The statement added: “The state banning native languages such as Kurdish, Arabic, and Syriac in Kurdistan and imposing on children to learn Turkish in the education system is part of the special war methods applied to alienate and assimilate children so that they lose their own language, culture, identity, in short, their existence. In Kurdistan, women were heavily targeted as a result of the appointment of trustees to the HDP-run municipalities, the seizure of the democratically and freely co-mayors elected by the people, the closure of hundreds of language institutions, the closure or workshops and institutions run by women.”

The statement paid tribute to “Fatma Altınmakas, who was raped in Malazgirt district of Muş and could not made a complaint because she did not speak Turkish at the police station she went to, and was later murdered. We remind that many women were murdered as a result of the system's impositions. We, women, are repeating once again that we will fight against all kinds of violence, culture, assimilation and alienation, and we will defend our language, culture, existence and freedom to the end."