17 year-old Zeynep K. was rescued in Cizre on her wedding night as she was about to be forcefully wed, this was following her imprisonment in her home for six months after she had initially refused, at which time she was subjected to physical violence from her brother.

The circumstances of 17 year-old Zeynep K. who was being forced into marriage by her family were brought to the attention of the YDG-K, the Patriotic Democratic Women’s Youth.

The Women’s Youth intervened on the wedding night by arriving at the house where the wedding party was taking place and rescuing Zeynep.

The women held talks with the family and the wedding was cancelled. Zeynep was reported to be happy at the prospect of starting a new life. Stating that she did not wish to be married off whilst still a child Zeynep said, ‘I want my future to go in a different direction’.

‘They were there beside me. This is a great source of strength’

Zeynep spoke of her experiences, saying, ‘I went to the self defence force and explained my situation to them. Then I went home and began waiting. They arrived on the wedding night and asked me in front of my family, ‘Do you want to get married?’. I said, ‘no’ and from there the wedding was cancelled. After speaking to my family they said, ‘we’re leaving’ and I left the neighbourhood in their company. They saved my life. At this young age I did not want to become part of that world. I want to be free and to be myself. Thanks to the People’s Assembly and the women of the YDG-K I have been saved from forced marriage whilst still a child. From now on I would like to decide for myself in which direction my life will go. They said to me, ‘take any path you like, we are behind you’. For me this is a great source of strength.’

Zeynep went on to talk about how many of her friends had been married whilst still children and how many women she knew had suffered violence. She said that since they were able to appeal to the self-defence force they had been easily able to break free of such problems. The self-defence force always see things from the woman’s perspective and they are a force to support women everywhere, we are also hearing that they’ve drastically changed the lives of a large number of women.

‘Zeynep was imprisoned in her home for six months for standing up to her family’

Delilal, a member of the YDG-K self-defence force said that Zeynep had tried to escape her fate for the previous six months but that her family had ignored’ her. Delila said, ‘For months Zeynep has been crying out that she does not want to get married, but no-one listened to her. After she came and explained the situation to us we immediately took action. It was as if she was wearing a shroud, not a wedding dress on her wedding night. She had also been suffering physical violence. Even though she was undergoing such things she still didn’t want to speak out because she was thinking of her family. When we spoke with her the main thing she was saying was, ‘I don’t want to get married’. Then we found out that she had been locked up in her house for six months and been subjected to physical violence by her brother. We went and spoke with her family and then took our sister to the People’s Assembly.’

‘Families must stop trying to determine in the lives of their children’

Finally Delila appealed to all families, saying, ‘You cannot force a woman to marry against her will, and you certainly cannot consider marrying off your young daughters either. It is our duty to intervene in such situations and to take their side. We will do whatever is necessary, together, to achieve this,’ she said.

The state and men in general are governing women by way of dirty politics

We spoke to the Cizre People’s Assembly Co-chairperson Asya Yüksel in relation to the matter. She said, ‘The self-governing authority get involved in solving a whole host of community problems and are not just involved in self-defence’. Asya went on to point out that especially in male-dominated communities the problems suffered by women were brought to the attention of the Assembly by the self-defence group and that their taking a stance in support of women had led to improvements in solving their issues. Asya stated that among the cases put before the Assembly were cases of child marriage, polygamy and violence against women, going on to say, ‘Both the state and men in general are using dirty politics against women’.

Solutions that protect the woman and not the family

‘The problems of many women come before the Assembly. The criteria under which we operate is not to protect or defend the family but to arrive at solutions that protect the woman’, said Asya, mentioning also that families were causing great harm by marrying off their progeny whilst they were still just children, ‘The family will say, ‘he’s fine, he’s my friend, this family are friends of mine and they’ll marry off their children like this and later the problem lands with us.’

With 70-80 such cases being lodged on average on a monthly basis Asya announced that a website was being set up to help those making the applications. Finally Asya stated, ‘The YDG-K and YDG-H have been reported to be organisations undertaking dirty work but this is nothing but the propaganda of the state. Along with these organisations we are finding solutions to community problems and as well as self-defence we are helping to shape the lives of our communities.’

Source: Jinha