The Women’s Assembly of the Democratic Alevi Associations (DAD) and the Democratic Alevi Women’s Union (DAKB) released a declaration regarding the ongoing constitution and peace process in Turkey, expressing their readiness to contribute.
Titled “Consent is our right: The constitution and peace declaration of Alevi women for an equal, democratic life and peace,” the statement read as follows:
“We have said that ‘the human being is the mirror of the universe.’ And the greatest victims of war are those who seek the virtue of being human. This pursuit of virtue is most often embodied in women, in nature, and in children. The deepest wounds are carried in the memory of women, passed down from generation to generation as a collective memory.
As Alevi women, we are witnesses to centuries of war, genocide, massacres, and policies of denial in this geography. Despite the unforgotten pain in our memories, including the massacres in Dersim, Çorum, and Sivas, we insist on peace.
Today’s wars are not only waged with weapons; they are carried out through cultural, religious, linguistic, and ecological destruction. That is why we say: the search for the truth of life is a fundamental human right and responsibility. This responsibility must be fulfilled through an egalitarian and libertarian approach that ensures a just, equal, and free society, based on principles of coexistence that safeguard the lives of all communities.
We emphasize that a new constitution based on peace, truth, and equal citizenship, one that reflects the consent of women, faiths, and peoples, is now a necessity.
Peace is not merely the silence of weapons; it is the confrontation with the historical suffering of societies and their reconstruction on the basis of equality.
As Alevi women, we are closely following the constitutional and peace processes underway in Turkey. We demand that this process be rooted in genuine social ground and be strengthened through gender equality and freedom of belief. We also feel it is our responsibility to highlight the lack of female representation in the commission and call for this to be addressed. With this responsibility, we declare that we are ready to take part in the new constitution process, to contribute, and to become the driving force of peace.
We share with the public our belief that the success of this process depends on the fulfillment of the following demands, and we call on the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, political actors, the established commission, and society at large to recognize and respond to the demands of peoples, faiths, and women, to take on this historical responsibility and move forward toward peace and democracy.
Women’s constitutional demands
1. Gender equality
• The constitution must include not only the phrase “women and men are equal,”
• But also the clear provision that “the state is obliged to ensure gender equality.”
2. Constitutional ban on violence against women
• Violence against women, sexual violence, and domestic violence must be explicitly prohibited in the constitution.
• Turkey must return to the Istanbul Convention.
3. Women’s representation: Political participation and decision-making mechanisms
• Women’s representation in politics and public administration must be constitutionally guaranteed at a minimum of 50 percent.
• The co-presidency system must be recognized in the constitution.
Our spiritual and social demands
1. Free and equal citizenship
• Alevism must be constitutionally recognized as an independent and distinct belief system, not only on an individual level but also as a collective identity.
2. Places of worship and collective memory
• Cemevis must be granted legal status as places of worship, and confiscated sacred sites must be returned.
• Discriminatory provisions in the Law on Dervish Lodges and Zawiyas must be repealed, and names of individuals who have insulted Alevi history must be removed from public spaces.
3. Equal and free secularism
• The Directorate of Religious Affairs must be abolished and replaced with an independent Council of Faiths that includes representatives from all belief systems.
4. Equality and freedom of belief in education
• Compulsory religious education must be abolished and replaced with a system based on secular, scientific, and mother-tongue education.
• Religious schools and projects established in Alevi villages must be terminated.
5. Cultural rights of Alevi traditions
• Kurdish Alevi traditions (Raa/Rêya Heq) must be constitutionally protected with their language, beliefs, and culture.
• All barriers to conducting cem rituals in Kurdish must be removed, and each tradition must have the right to document and preserve its own history.
6. Confronting the past and seeking justice
• Archives related to massacres such as Dersim, Maraş, Sivas, and Çorum must be opened; the state must issue an official apology and recognize the victims.
• The burial sites of those killed must be disclosed, mass graves must be uncovered, and these areas should be turned into spaces of collective memory.
7. The relationship between nature and belief
• Mountains, rivers, and pilgrimage sites considered sacred by Kurdish Alevis must not be destroyed by energy projects. The surroundings of sacred sites must be placed under protection.
8. Democratic representation and gender equality
• The participation of Alevi women in decision-making bodies must be constitutionally guaranteed, and the co-presidency system must be secured in the constitution.
• The policy of appointing trustees must end, and Turkey must lift its reservations to the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
9. Human rights and penal law reform
• Alevi prisoners must be granted the right to meet with their spiritual leaders; discriminatory laws such as the Anti-Terror Law must be repealed, and the “right to hope” decision of the European Court of Human Rights must be implemented.
• Justice must be ensured within the penal system.
Conclusion
As the DAD and the DAKB, we are women from a community that carries truth through the darkness of war, resists denial, and does not forget its memory.
A new constitution must recognize this memory, crown it with equal citizenship, and secure peace through law.
We seek life, not war.
Recognition, not denial.
Truth, not silence.
We give our consent, and extend our hand, to the process of social peace and the making of a new constitution.
We are women, we are Alevis, we are peoples of all colours and we are here.”
Source: ANF News
