The Purple Color of Kurdish Politics
Women Politicians Write from Prison
- 272 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Purple Color of Kurdish Politics
Women Politicians Write from Prison
About This Book
Gültan K??anak, a Kurdish journalist and former MP, was elected co-mayor of Diyarbak?r in 2014. Two years later, the Turkish state arrested and imprisoned her. Her story is remarkable, but not unique. While behind bars, she wrote about her own experiences and collected similar accounts from other Kurdish women, all co-chairs, co-mayors and MPs in Turkey; all incarcerated on political grounds.
The Purple Color of Kurdish Politics is a one-of-a-kind collection of prison writings from more than 20 Kurdish women politicians. Here they reflect on their personal and collective struggles against patriarchy and anti-Kurdish repression in Turkey; on the radical feminist principles and practices through which they transformed the political structures and state offices in which they operated. They discuss what worked and what didn't, and the ways in which Turkey's anti-capitalist and socialist movements closely informed their political stances and practices.
Demonstrating Kurdish women's ceaseless political determination and refusal to be silenced - even when behind bars - the book ultimately hopes to inspire women living under even the most unjust conditions to engage in collective resistance.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of Abbreviations
- Translation Coordinators’ Preface
- Preface to the English Translation by Gültan Kışanak
- Women’s Organizing in the Kurdish Party Tradition by Gültan Kışanak
- 1. “How Will You Find That Many Women?” by Aysel Tuğluk
- 2. Mother, Child, Prison by Burcu Çelik Özkan
- 3. “We Never Thought of It That Way” by Çağlar Demirel
- 4. “Hurry Up and Fix Things” by Diba Keskin
- 5. Never Give Up by Dilek Hatipoğlu
- 6. “We Have Your Keys. Come and Get Them” by Edibe Şahin
- 7. Women’s Work Viewed as Frivolous by Evin Keve
- 8. “You’re Going to Eat with the Men?” by Fatma Doğan
- 9. History Has No Love for Women Who Stop and Keep Quiet by Figen Yüksekdağ
- 10. Three Times Elected, Three Years Barred from Serving by Gülser Yıldırım
- 11. Being a Woman Is Hard, Even Dangerous by Gültan Kışanak
- 12. “Are Men Going to Walk Behind a Woman?” by Leyla Güven
- 13. “A Lion Is a Lion, Woman or Man” by Mukaddes Kubilay
- 14. Nobody’s Daughter-in-Law by Nurhayat Altun
- 15. Women Should Handle Finances by Sara Kaya
- 16. “This Woman Is Tough as Nails” by Sadiye Süer Baran
- 17. From Prison to Parliament by Sebahat Tuncel
- 18. Imprisoned for Providing Services by Servin Karakoç
- 19. One Woman Became 80 by Yıldız Çetin
- 20. “Is Sir Chiefwoman in?” by Zeynep Han Bingöl
- 21. “They’ve Turned It into a Women’s Municipality” by Zeynep Sipçik
- 22. Breaking Down the Doors by Selma Irmak
- Freedom for Aysel Tuğluk
- Translators and Coordinators
- Index