Zeynep Nilgun Salmaner, member of the Central Disciplinary Board of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, evaluating the process carried out for the solution of the Kurdish issue and the democratisation of the country, said that women should participate in the process carried out at every stage. Drawing attention to the efforts to establish a commission in the Parliament as a stage of the process, Zeynep Nilgun Salmaner said, "The aim is not only to talk about peace, but also to include women in the process at every point where peace will be built."

 

She stated that special war policies are applied on women during conflict processes, and that the number of women who are raped and harassed increases with the war. “When we look at the murders of women in this geography, we see methods that amount to brutality, most of those methods are the methods used in the battlefield," she said. 

 

Zeynep Nilgun Salmaner said that the transfer of a large part of the state budget to the war increases women's poverty and added: "Since the process started to be talked about, there are steps taken, although not clear. It is not enough for the guns to fall silent, so women from all walks of life need to recognise the corrosive effects of war and shoulder the construction of peace. This is not only a problem of the Kurdish freedom movement, but of everyone living in this geography."

 

Emphasising that women should be more involved in decision-making mechanisms, Zeynep Nilgun Salmaner said, "The most important thing for us is the spread of the co-chair system. Again, the basis of this struggle is the democratic, ecological, women's libertarian paradigm. It is a structure that forms the essence of democratic society. Our job is not to say that peace is a done deal, but to ensure the continuity of that peace as an honourable peace."