Speaking at the Women’s Council meeting of the City Council, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Serra Bucak stated that they aimed to further develop women’s awareness of freedom by eliminating social inequalities.
The Diyarbakır City Council Women’s Council held its 1st Ordinary Meeting at the Çand Amed Culture and Congress Centre. In addition to Metropolitan Co-Mayor Serra Bucak, the meeting was attended by district municipality co-mayors, members of the Metropolitan Municipality Women’s Commission, women’s organisations, representatives of political parties and women mukhtars.
Goals of the Women’s Council
Prior to the meeting, Selvi Tunç, Secretary General of the City Council, provided information about the Council’s work and the meeting itself. Tunç stated that the Women’s Council, in addition to being a network where women advocate for their rights, had set many goals on its agenda, including taking steps against violence against women, creating women-friendly cities, and ensuring that municipal services to be implemented in the city are accessible for women.
Following the election of the Chairing Council, the opening speech of the meeting was delivered by Metropolitan Municipality Co-Mayor Serra Bucak.
Co-Mayor Bucak: Our Aim is to Build Gender Equality
Co-Mayor Bucak emphasised the value of being together with women who have never abandoned the struggle to exist in social life, saying: “Of course, we are very excited, and our excitement increases many times over, especially at women’s gatherings. Because after these meetings, all our decisions and our roadmap are, of course, about rebuilding gender equality, eliminating social inequalities and further developing women’s awareness of freedom.”
‘We Want It to Provide Us with Policy Guidance’
Recalling that the City Council could not convene during the eight years of trustee administration, Co-Mayor Bucak said: “But this is a different period, we are in a process that has further strengthened all our hopes. We want to see the emergence of a process that goes beyond the Co-Mayorship and administration of DBB, that belongs to this city, establishes its assemblies, and in which these assemblies provide perspective and policy to local governments. As co-mayors and elected representatives, we want to promise that we will strengthen the City Council’s free, independent, participatory and pluralistic policies, enabling it to guide us and provide us with a roadmap.”
‘We Attach Great Importance to Pluralism’
Recalling that the City Council’s Disability Assembly and the Culture and Arts Assembly had been established, Bucak concluded her speech with the following words: “They will form their own working groups, but what we value most is the Women’s Assembly. For us, the Women’s Assembly is the most precious. Our colleagues have devoted great effort to its formation. Until now, many women, women’s organisations and civil society organisations in the city have come together. We attach great importance to this pluralism. For this reason, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the creation of this assembly. I also thank you for being here today and making this day meaningful.”
City Issues Discussed
After the speeches, participants addressed issues concerning the city, highlighting drug use, child abuse and prostitution as major problems. Women also raised the proposal of carrying out memory and socialisation projects regarding the institutions and activities that had been closed during the trustee period.
The meeting concluded with the election of the Executive Committee of the Women’s Assembly and the sharing of wishes and suggestions.
