Turkish and Kurdish women meet to discuss media and peace in Sulaimaniya, Iraq


Date posted: April 23, 2013

TUĞBA MEZARARKALI, SULAIMANIYA/IRAQ

Kurdish and Turkish women met in the Iraqi town of Sulaimaniya on Sunday to discuss various issues including the role of the media in relation to women and coexistence and freedoms in the Middle East.

Fifty female journalists from Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan joined the event, organized by the Medialog Platform of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV). Turkey’s chief consul in Arbil, Mehmet Aydın Sencel, said in opening remarks that the Turkish government’s commitment to social integration with northern Iraq had been reaffirmed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan many times before.

“Economic cooperation between Turkey and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan is usually widely covered by the media. There have also been many steps taken in the energy sector. But cooperation on social issues is equally as important. And we have been doing this in the Iraqi Kurdish region with our schools, hospitals and media agencies active in the area since 1994,” Sencel iterated. He said the total number of Turkish schools in northern Iraq was 12,000. “They are raising bilingual students,” he added.

Ali Baştürk, secretary general of GYV’s Medialog Platform, said there was special meaning in holding a workshop for female journalists on Mesopotamian soil. He also expressed his hope that Mesopotamia and the Middle East will become a shining star for global civilization in the future, once it regains peace and stability.

Muzaket Hussan, a professor of the Sulaimani University and 16-year media veteran, said media has an important role to play in the integration of different cultures thanks to the advances in communication technologies. Hussan said, however, that media is still being used as a propaganda tool. “In fact, the real purpose of the media is to ensure peace, but it can become a political tool if it is not used to this end and can have dangerous consequences.”

Journalist Balçiçek İlter of Turkey, who chaired a session titled “The Media Factor in Establishing Societal Peace” began her speech saying she regretted not speaking Kurdish. She asked, “How can we change the language of the media? I think the solution to this problem is to allocate more space to women in media organizations. Women should be in positions of decision-making power for a media centered on peace and the individual.” She said women were mostly associated with words such as “tenderness” and “emotional.” İlter added, “We hope that characteristics such as our practicality in solving problems are discussed more frequently.”

In a session on the language of the media and freedom, Fadime Özkan, who chaired the session, said journalists were too often politicized in Turkey, and said this made impartiality of the press impossible.

Source: Today’s Zaman, 22 April 2013


Related News

Turkish PM acknowledges phone call to media executive

Turkey’s mainstream media has been under constant fire since last year’s Gezi Park protests and the recent graft probes for yielding to political pressure from the government.

Democracy tree grows in Abant as Turks and Kurds bond

ABDULLAH BOZKURT It was in 2000 that liberal and conservative intellectuals in Turkey came together for the first time to address difficult questions in a highly civilized and respectable manner. To mark the occasion, they planted a pine tree in the backyard of the famous Abant Palace resort hotel near the northwestern city of Bolu. […]

Hate speech in politics and media

It is hard to understand the relentless efforts of Turkish politicians and media networks to create new objects of hate, in contrast with the global and local struggle against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and similar approaches that pave the way for hate speech, hate crime and discrimination. Hate speech, mutually produced in the context of the developments following the Gezi Park protests in June, is concrete proof that we are making life in this world increasingly unbearable for one another.

Zaman Arabic aims to be online paper of reference

Zaman Arabic, a new online newspaper from the Zaman Media Group, was launched on Monday in an effort to provide news about Turkey to the Arab world in its own language.

Chronology of Dec. 17: The stones are settling into place…

İSTANBUL Dec. 17, 2013: On the morning of Dec. 17, Turkey wakes up to a bribery and corruption operation. Simultaneous operations in İstanbul and Ankara take place after an investigation that included allegations of land being opened up to illegal city zoning, bribery and money laundering. The operations, which are carried out on the orders […]

US calls Turkey to uphold fundamental freedoms after Zeynalov’s deportation

When asked about Zeynalov being deported by the Turkish government, US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said, “We are looking into these unsettling reports. As we have said, we have been and continue to be strong advocates for freedom of expression around the world, and we believe that democracies are strengthened by the diverse voices of their people. We look to Turkey as a democracy and ally to uphold the fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly, and association.”

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Fethullah Gülen calls for ‘bridges of peace’ in Eid al-Fitr remarks

The businessman who sits on his cell phone to avoid wiretapping

Main opposition CHP says received no message from Fethullah Gülen

Consultation from Gülen’s perspective: The relationship between the ruler and the ruled

Erdoğan’s ‘non-precious’ loneliness

An ‘impossible’ choice: Leave 5-year-old son in foster care or risk being tortured

OKC Thunder’s Enes Kanter laughs off being called a terrorist by Turkish government

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News