In July 2012, well-known academic, trade unionist and former elected member of the TUC women’s committee, Professor Mary Davis, travelled to North Kurdistan in Turkey on an international solidarity delegation. Professor Davis was one of twelve women on the delegation, which was organised by CENI – Kurdish Women’s Office for Peace with the support of the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.
Over ten days, the delegates met with many women from several different Kurdish women’s projects and organisations, from female members of KESK, the umbrella public services union, and of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), to educators at Amed’s (Diyarbakir) women’s academies, to the Peace Mothers in Wan and to reporters who have established the first women-run news agency in the country.
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign interviewed Professor Davis on her return to the UK, where she gives her candid impressions on the repressive nature of Turkey’s approach to its Kurdish citizens in general, and Kurdish women in particular.
The delegation has also produced two reports so far related to their experiences. One is about their first impressions of the projects and women they met, and the second is an eyewitness account of the demonstrations in Amed on 14 July 2012,
A full report with contributions from all the delegates will available towards the end of the summer.