Fatma Ünsal: Women should take a stand against the instrumentalization of religion

  • women
  • 10:07 17 August 2021
  • |
img
İSTANBUL -  Women's Rights activist Fatma Bostan Ünsal, who stated that the instrumentalization of religion causes antifeminam displays, said that conservative women should stand against Islamophobia as well as antifeminam policies developed by instrumentalizing religion.
 
Women in the Middle East discuss the problems they face and how to step up the struggle and resist against these problems. Women are organizing the common struggle against violence, femicide, immigration, sexism and religious and nationalist oppressions. In this context, the 2nd Middle East and North Africa Women's Conference was held in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and formed a basis for discussing these issues and determining the common line of struggle.
 
The conference, which women from various countries of the Middle East and North Africa attended with all their differences, was also a representation of diversity. Aiming for the "Democratic Women's Revolution", the women offered unique solutions to the problems experienced in their countries as well as the common struggle of the women. We talked about the conference with Human and Women's Rights activist Fatma Bostan Ünsal, who attended the conference with the Turkish delegation.
 
COMMON PROBLEM: RELIGIONISM
 
Ünsal said that the most common problems of Middle Eastern and North African women are the instability in their countries, injustice, child marriage, war and the problems experienced by refugees. Emphasizing that the religiousness emphasized in the conference resolutions is a common problem that causes antifeminam policies and practices in the Middle East, Ünsal said, “In general, there are many provisions in the Qur'an that support women, but in today's understanding, the provisions and practices that support women are either forgotten or distorted."
 
'GOVERNMENTS INSTRUMENTALIZE RELIGION IN LINE WITH THEIR INTERESTS'
 
Stating that religion is abused by the governments in Middle Eastern countries, Ünsal said that this situation was also on the agenda at the conference. Ünsal said, “Just as Islamic practices have corrupted in other areas, they are also corrupted in the field of women. Of course, women are the first to feel this corruption in religion. Religion is instrumentalized by the governments in order to maintain their power. The instrumentalization of religion also comes with mistreatment of women."
 
EZİDİ GENOCIDE
 
Giving an example of the Êzidîs' experiences, Ünsal said: “Today, using modern technologies, slave markets were built to sell Êzidî women and children into slavery. And it continues today. A situation that has been forgotten by human history for 200 years and should not happen is happening again. Islam is a religion that attaches great importance to human dignity. How does a professed Muslim revive the slave market? The people of Turkey, the people of the Middle East and North Africa should stand against this. Of course, the Westerners will accept the Yazidi genocide as a war crime and genocide, but before that, the people of the region should think about this situation, condemn it and erase it from the face of the earth. But unfortunately, there is a heavy silence on this issue.”
 
FIGHT AGAINST RELIGIONISM
 
Stating that there should be a struggle against religionism, Ünsal said the following about how this struggle should be carried out: “For example, Islamophobia is a very protected area. There is hostility towards Islam in the West, but this should not be the only thing expressed here. In other words, there is Islamophobia, but in the face of it, those who complain about Islamophobia should also express how women are exposed to injustice and persecution by instrumentalizing of Islam. Anyone who talks about Islamophobia should also condemn the ISIS fatwa and the sale of women and children in the slave market. In this way, oppression of women by instrumentalizing religion will be prevented.”
 
WOMEN OF ROJAVA
 
Stating that the Northern and Eastern Syrian women participating in the conference are setting an example, Ünsal continued, “It was very important that women who lead in military, diplomatic and legal backgrounds were present at the conference. Rojava women set an example for the region."
 
Stating that the women's alliance will democratize the region, Ünsal said, “I think it will democratize the whole region in terms of contribution to the society and  democratization for the women. Democracy is not established in the Middle East. We want an administration that acts in line with human's rights. It will be defined as tyranny by us as long as it does not happen. Where there is tyranny, we have the right to revolt."
 
MA / Diren Yurtsever

View More Articles

14/01/2022
11:51 Building refugees live in set on fire
11:51 Women subjected to strip search in Şırnak Security Directorate
11:49 'Freedom for prisoners' sit in on day 60
13/01/2022
16:53 Letter to 600 MPs from the Doku family: Establish a Research Commission
14:38 Mother of 12-year-old boy killed by police: I will continue my struggle
13:25 Lawyers of Öcalan applied for a meeting with their client
13:23 Justice Watch of Şenyaşar family enters day 311
13:16 Kemal Kurkut's brother: Our only fault is to be Kurdish!
12:41 SDF press officer: Our aim is to ensure peace in the region
11:22 Mother's sit in continues on its 101th day to claim bodies of their children
12/01/2022
16:47 Justice Watch: We will resist everywhere
16:13 Friends of Syrian refugee killed in racist attack says attack wears police vest
13:41 Şenyaşar family: We never have bowed to oppression and we never will
12:03 Summary against HDP's Güzel sent to parliament
11:34 Court rules Kemal Kurkut an aggressor protester
11/01/2022
15:53 Lawyers of Öcalan applied for a meeting with their client
12:25 Number of women calling for Aysel Tuğluk's freedom tops 5 thousand
12:09 Summary prepared against HDP's Semra Güzel recieved by Presidency
12:09 Şenyaşar family: We don't accept this cruelty
12:08 Journalist Weysî Tallî: Turkey placed an embargo on Makhmur by the hand of the KDP
09:53 'Isolation in İmralı is a common issue for everyone defending freedom'
10/01/2022
16:27 Sit in for Gülistan Doku on its 10th day
16:27 HDP celebrates January 10 Journalists' Day
16:24 Man attacked HDP building arrested after public outcry
14:49 Attackers in Ankara, released by order of prosecutor's office
13:17 3 Kurdish young men attacked by ultra nationalist mob in Ankara
13:17 Ferit Şenyaşar: AKP MP's must be asked who killed our family members
11:22 Motion for torture returned on grounds of words used to describe sexual assault
11:19 Haydar Ali Ak on the agenda with torture again
09/01/2022
12:42 Üsterci: The effort of the families is a cry for the prisoners to live
12:41 Müftüoğlu: A new system should be built against the robbery order
10:24 Children in prisons do not have access to milk and diapers
08/01/2022
14:29 'Ideas of Sakine embodied in Rojava'
11:50 Şenyaşar family: Urfa wants the injustice to end
11:01 Kandıra Court and prison covering up the murder of Garibe Gezer
11:00 'Memorial forest' for MHP's Bahçeli in Diyarbakır: Diyarbakır won't accept it!
09:35 People of Makhmur: We will resist to the end
07/01/2022
14:47 New application submitted by Öcalan's family and guardian
14:47 Women launches campaign for Aysel Tuğluk
14:45 Two cancer patient left for dead in Turkish prison
12:52 Türkdoğan: We must object to the obvious unlawfulness in İmralı
10:29 Justice Watch in Diyarbakır continues: Mothers will bring justice
10:12 Şenyaşar Family: This struggle is a historic test for justice
10:08 The situation of ill prisoners getting worse: FMI is committing a crime against humanity
09:46 Kurdish journalist sentenced to life imprisonment in Turkey
09:38 'Turkey wants to revive ISIS'
05/01/2022
16:44 Our Agency's Editor-in-Chief Çelik was detained for the second time
16:43 Journalist Bodette: Removing PKK from terror list changes everything
12:48 Editor in Chief of Mesopotamia Agency referred to court
12:47 38 seriously ill prisoners needs to be released right now