World March of Women activists plant saplings in Diyarbakır

2015-03-09 21:45:24

DİYARBAKIR (DİHA) - Activists taking part in the international action of the World March of Women headed for the TalayTepe forest in Diyarbakır to plant hundreds of seedlings.

The World March of Women's 4th international action kicked off in Kurdistan this week to call attention to the Rojava women's revolution. Women activists will make their way across Kurdistan and Turkey, taking part in solidarity actions. In Kurdistan, where the state used environmental warfare and the burning of forests as a tactic of war, deforestation is a major problem. Now, the AKP government plays a prominent role in imprisoningnatural areasnot just in Kurdistan, but across Turkey under concrete.

The women started the day by visiting the international Kurdistan painting exhibition at the Sümerpark Center for Shared Living. Thereafter, they headed for TalayTepe, where they planted trees. The women placed "Comrade Arîn Mîrxan" cards in the trees, on which they wrote their wishes. Diren Özkan, member of the Congress of Free Women (KJA) Ecology Committee, spoke at a gathering where women cried slogans in support of the YPJ. She explained that the government was leading ongoing efforts to cover Diyarbakır with concrete buildings.

"The government wants to suffocate Diyarbakır in concrete," said Diren. She described the many resistance movements against the attacks on nature in Turkey: Black Sea residents' resistance against hydroelectric dams, the Gezi Park resistance, the fight to save Diyarbakır's historical green space the Hevsel Gardens and the struggle to preserve Middle East Technical University.

"We won't allow these projects of destruction," said Diren. "Our slogan as we planted these trees has been 'our saplings are our hope and our resistance.' And these saplings will grow thanks to the common labor of women from around the world."

(cm/nt)