WIDE+ strongly condemns the unlawful arrests of Diyarbakir’s Co-Mayors Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı and demands their immediate release. They were arrested on 30 October, after having been detained for five days on ‘terrorism’ charges.
Gültan Kışanak and Fırat Anlı are crucial figures in a political movement that tries to find peaceful solutions to the country’s many pressing questions. This arrest is a clear effort of the Turkish state not only to close the last remaining democratic spaces in Turkey, but also to weaken the Kurdish women’s movement in particular. Gültan Kışanak is a leading figure in the Kurdish women’s rights movement, a representative for many women who have been fighting tirelessly against the many forms of violence women face in Turkey, and for a more equal and just society across the country.
Please sign the petition or write to your Turkesh Embassy in your country:
https://www.facebook.com/FeministWIDE/posts/1346608758713248 (link to petition)
release_kisanak_anli (Full letter in PDF)