Women Project in Diyarbakir

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Women Project in Diyarbakir

During the 1980s, Diyarbakir was one of the main destinations for refugees who were expelled due to the war between the Turkish army and the PKK from Kurdish villages in the southeast of Turkey. Yet, many of the refugees could not be integrated economically. Particularly women suffer from isolation and poverty.

The project is implemented in cooperation with the women centre EPI-DEM. The aim is to provide psychological, medical and legal help as well to provide educational support through literacy programs and Turkish language courses. These activities will help women to deal with problems caused by migration and urbanisation. Women should learn self-determination for their bodies and the use of easy contraception methods. In addition, the project aims at reducing the high number of suicide attempts of women.

Literacy and Turkish courses for Kurdish speaking women should enable the participation in public life and access to Turkish media. In seminars, topics such as family planning, female health, contraception, human rights, particularly women rights are discussed. Forced migration can lead to psychological problems due to the loss of social networks. The project tries to tackle this problem by placing a female psychologist during the duration of the project. The psychologist will also carry out psychotherapeutic workshops. Moreover, the project offers continuous childcare.

EPIDEM was supported by LeEZA from 2007 till 2009.