Serra Bucak, Co-Mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, drew attention to the importance of 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child, saying, ‘We are in the majority that will defend the rights to life of children, young girls and women in this region.’ The Metropolitan Municipality and the Diyarbakır Children's Work Network held a press conference at Sümerpark Common Living Area regarding 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child. The press conference was attended by Co-Mayors Serra Bucak and Doğan Hatun, department heads, and representatives of civil society organisations.
‘Violations against girls have increased’
Selvi Tunç, a member of the Diyarbakır Children’s Studies Network, recalled that the United Nations declared 11 October as International Day of the Girl Child in 2012, following an initiative by countries including Türkiye. Emphasising that the number of rights violations against girls had reached an uncountable and unclassifiable level, Tunç drew attention to the violations that had occurred. Tunç stated that they would continue their struggle for rights until children achieved their ideal of living peacefully in a fair, free and equal world.
Co-Mayor Bucak: 11 October is a meaningful and special day
Speaking at a press conference, Co-Mayor Serra Bucak stated that they had gathered to raise awareness on the occasion of 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child, as representatives of civil society organisations in the city, civil society and associations working in the field of children's rights in Diyarbakır, the City Council established two months ago, the Co-Mayors of the Metropolitan Municipality, the administration and council members. Emphasising that 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child, is a meaningful and special day against the policies of discrimination that girls around the world have faced and been subjected to for 12 years, Co-Mayor Bucak said: "In our own region, in our cities, we have placed our gender-priority work and our fieldwork emphasising gender equality at the centre of all our efforts in the area of children's rights for many years. We have also put forward our local government practices that prioritise gender equality. Today, as local governments, we want to emphasise the importance of reaching a point where we can work more strongly and on a more sound basis, both with civil society organisations working in this field and with our colleagues who have contributed to this field and produced good practices in their expertise, as well as with the Children's Assembly in the City Council."
‘We want to dedicate this day to Ceylan, Narin and Rojin’
Co-Mayor Bucak, who pledged that the Metropolitan Municipality and district municipalities would launch an initiative to prevent discriminatory policies in the field of children's rights and to defend the rights of women, especially girls, at the highest level, said, "On International Day of the Girl Child, there are girls in our region who have lost their lives or been murdered for various reasons. We wish to dedicate this day to Ceylan, Cemile, Narin, and Rojin. The city experienced a great trauma when Narin's lifeless body was found, and from the very first day, the city asked what happened to Narin and continues to ask. In this sense, we want to state here that we will be the followers of the massacres of women and what happens to young girls and children in our region."
'We will defend their right to life'
Noting that 11 October, International Day of the Girl Child, has greater significance than ever before, Bucak said, ‘In the persons of Narin and Rojin Kabaiş, we pledge to defend the right to life of all children and women lost in our region, torn from life at a young age, and to always advocate for gender equality.’
Istanbul Convention
Co-Mayor Bucak emphasised that the policies of governments and states to protect perpetrators and the trials they leave unpunished have unfortunately caused great wounds in the conscience of society, saying: "Turkey's withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention leaves this society alone with daily murders and massacres of women in recent years. Not a single day goes by without us waking up to the massacre of women and children. We are greater than the government in this region, we are more numerous. We are a majority in this region that will defend the rights and freedoms, the right to life, of children, young girls, women, and everyone in this society. We just need to realise that we are this majority and reveal the practices of this majority, of our ideology of freedom, in local administrations and in our cities. We invite all our families, women and men to become part of this education, to become volunteers, through the advisory centres we will establish in our cities and neighbourhoods, the awareness centres we will establish for children's rights, and the training we will provide.
Bucak noted that they will carry out the work of the Children's Assembly and Youth Assembly within the City Council at the highest level.
