Women’s Meeting At The European Parliament
BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET- Today, Nawal al-Saadawi has to go on the road, in spite of the tiredness of her age, as she is more than 70. Al-Saadawi, an Egyptian feminist, human rights activist, former parliamentarian, socialist and famous woman of letters, was declared ‘sinful’ by al-Azhar University due to her latest book. The ‘intellectual elite’ want her to be punished severely, and al-Saadawi says that this means death. We attended the meeting organized by the European Parliament’s Socialist Group, the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) and the Association of Women Entrepreneurs in Turkey (KAGIDER) at the EP in Brussels, and there we discussed steps taken by the Turkish women on the path to Europe. Then we listened to al-Saadawi during the meeting of European socialist women. She said that her grandmother told her that Allah meant justice, love and freedom, and that then she wrote a play. In the play, there were two gods; one was her grandmother’s god, and the other was the god of ideologies. She said that she criticized dogmas in her play, and the target of these dogmas was women. Al-Saadawi said that they want to use her book in order to justify their injustices. She added that she would leave her country and surrender if she were sure that the court would be fair. However, she said that she knows that this won’t be the case, because it would be a trial against creative thinking. She also said that an international court should be convened at the EP so she could be tried by independent judges, authors and scholars. Al-Saadawi wants support and help against dogmatism and intolerance and for creativity. She also said that no matter where she is, if the decision is taken, they might kidnap her and bring her to the court. The EP’s Socialist Group will bring the issue to European Commission Chairman Jose Manuel Barroso, and the EP will call on the Egyptian government to stop the pressure on al-Saadawi. We should give her Turkey’s support in the name of freedom of thought, belief and solidarity between women.
The EP celebrated International Women’s Day with the slogan of ‘Catching Equality: 50/50’ 50 years after the Treaty of Rome. Among these celebrations, Turkish women also told about their struggle for equality. The second such meeting held at the EP this year became more interesting with the participation of Vladimir Spidla, the European Commission’s employment and social affairs commissioner. Emine Bozkurt, the Dutch Socialist parliamentarian and Parliament rapporteur on the situation of women in Turkey, described the improvement in women rights in Turkey as a good example of the effective, determined cooperation between Turkey and the European Union. Talking about the situation of women in Turkey were Nukhet Hotar Goksel from our ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), TUSIAD Gender Equality Committee Chairman Feryal Menemenli, KAGIDER’s Gulseren Onanc, Nebahat Akkoc from the Women’s Center (KA-MER), Meltem Akkoc, a UN official responsible for the project on women’s participation in education and social life in Turkey, and Selma Acuner from Ankara University’s Women Studies Research Center and a European Women’s Lobby Executive Board member. Particularly things done by the government and non-governmental groups in Turkey for education and against domestic violence and campaigns for this were in a better situation than in many European countries. Don’t think that they don’t need it, because European parliamentarians and representatives of women’s movement said that domestic violence is rising anew in Europe and are seeking legal measures against it on both the national and European Union levels and drew Barroso’s attention to the issue.”
