AMED, KURDISTAN CAPITAL
Speaking to Nûçe Ciwan in an exclusive interview, HDP’s Amed Deputy Dersim Dağ analysed the impact of the Turkish state’s policies on young women and the youth.
Dersim Dağ emphasized that these special warfare policies are aimed at tearing away the youth from their essence, to make them naive. Dersim highlighted that as the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), they will take more practical steps and carry out concrete works and actions in the future.
Our interview with Dersim Dağis as follows:
In recent times, femicide has seriously increased in Turkey parallel to rape cases. Especially in Kurdistan, rape cases are on the rise, in Silopi, Şırnak and Batman one after another by Turkısh soldiers. Can we say that this situation is a policy of special warfare? What is being aimed?
“With the voice of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan reaching the Middle Eastern peoples, women were able to breathe a breath of relief, finding space for themselves in life. With the heaviness of the isolation system, together with the introduction of absolute isolation all over again, Turkey, Kurdistan, women have begun to feel the impacts of the male-dominant mentality in all areas of life again.
On the other hand, there are special war policies that fascist states are currently carrying out on the peoples. Turkey is currently conducting private war policies on the Kurdish people and the biggest target of these special warfare policies is young Kurdish women.
They become the primary target of these special war policies, both because of their identity as being a young, more dynamic power in society and also because of their identity as a female.
As a direct result of special warware policies, many young women aged 17 to 18 in Kurdistan are exposed to harassment and rape by Turkish expert sergeants, soldiers and police. These expert sergeants, soldiers and police officers represent the state and they see the rape of a Kurdish woman as an achievement.
We would like to ask you about some news which surfaced last week. It was revealed that a building in the Yenişehir district of Amed was being used for prostitution. We know that this situation and the use of drugs is increasing in most Kurdish provinces. Where are young people being dragged to?
We explained some of the primary targets of these (special warfare) policies on young women and the youth. Why are young women and the youth in general being put under such psychological bombardment? The Kurdish people have launched an irrevokable struggle for unprecedented freedom, and the pioneers of this freedom struggle are the youth, and the young women play the pioneering mission in this fight because they are both young and female. That is why they become the primary target of special war policies, because in order to end this struggle as a whole, it is necessary to eliminate the youth and the young women.
In fact, these special warfare policies; drugs, prostitution and addiction policies are being directed at young people to detach them from their essences. We can say that Amed is one of the provinces that has become the a center for these policies. As a matter of fact, these policies are carried out in many other cities of Kurdistan.
When we consider Amed in particular, the fact that Amed is so heavily under state control but is simultaneously a province where there is so much prostitution and drugs is suspicious. That young people are able to do drugs or deal drugs so easily clearly shows that they are in cooperation with the state. As a matter of fact, we all see this very clearly in the Ofis district of Amed.
Of course, as I have just mentioned, a freedom struggle is being carried out by the Kurdish people and the youth are the leaders of this freedom struggle. These policies are being carried out to prevent young people from being the pioneers of this struggle, both detaching them from their essence and history, and separating them from their identity which makes them one.
The HDP youth council started a move called ‘Take Action’. What actions will be taken by the HDP youth council regarding prostitution, drugs and spying, within the scope of this move?
We have started a move against these policies with the slogan ‘Take Action’. In this move, of course, we face many problems such as the issue of youth being left face to face with prostitution, drugs and addiction. Of course, we will also work on special warfare policies to solve such problems.
We are working on raising the awareness of the youth about these special war policies, what is being aimed at prostitution, drugs and addiction policies, why the youth should be organized and how they should be organized.
In the coming days, we will also have practical concrete actions and activities against drugs, prostitution and smuggling in the practical field.
One of the most discussed topics is the concept of the ‘Z generation’. There were also places where you expressed your views on this subject. Is it desired to transform the youth into a new character by separating them into generations? How do you evaluate this definition of generation?
We are totally against the term ‘Z generation’. Of course, although there are variations from generation to generation, it should be noted that identity of the youth is whole and has unique characteristics. Despite the fact that the generation, which is described as Generation Z, has some unique characteristics, this can be said for every generation. Yes, there is a little more interest in technology as they live in the age of technology, but this does not mean that their world consists of the virtual world. In fact, it is worth noting that the new age youth is a much more active and questioning youth.
In fact, the government’s characterization of ‘Generation Z’ is a virtualised youth, it is aimed at separating the youth from being a whole and isolating them from society. If there is to be a characterisation of the younger generation, they can be defined with their resistance against and rejection of the current system. We can give the generation of 68, or the generation of Gezi as an example.
On the one hand, we are faced with a system that characterizes the youth as a virtual generation, and on the other hand, it creates such a world for a virtualised youth to be accomplished through the games, TV series and films which it produces. While attempting to create a virutalised youth, it uses a language which implies that these characteristics are the natural characteristics of the youth.
Of course, we as young people do not accept such a definition. We state that we will rewrite the narratives about our own generation with our fight and our resistance. Generation Z is a definition that isolates youth from society and separates youth from each other. We will respond to those who try to separate us from each other with the resistance we will create together. We have a claim that we will put our mark on this period not as a virtual generation but as a revolutionary generation.”
Dersim concluded with the following words:
“Movements have been initiated by the youth all over the world against the globalised capitalist system. We in Turkey and Kurdistan as HDP Youth Council we started our ‘Take Action’ campaign, however, there are countless campaigns which have been launched. I salute all these campaigns by the youth, initiated against fascism and the invading colonial powers and we renew our call to all young people: I say ‘Take Action’ altogether to demolish fascism and capitalism for a free future constructed on a common line of struggle.”
