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| Mehsa Mehdili |
"Mehsa Mehdili harshly criticizes the policy regarding women in the national movement in Iranian Azerbaijan, saying that it is similar to the denial of discrimination by a national activist in Iran against women, or by the Persian community against Turks or Azerbaijan. Mehdili, the spokesperson of the Southern Azerbaijan Liberation Front (GAMAC), evaluates the place of women in the national movement and organizations belonging to it in an interview with Voice of America.
She adds, "The National Movement has been unsuccessful in gaining women as individuals and incorporating the power of women, regardless of gender, into its own. Of course, in student movements, women have been more active because the environment there is different."
Mehdili expresses that the first step in solving this problem is to get rid of the influence of Iran’s anti-women policies:
"The National Movement must first overcome the anti-woman culture, laws, environment, and all obstacles created by the central government. This is a difficult phase. Afterward, we must accept that there is also a serious weakness in accepting women as individuals within the atmosphere of the National Movement. This problem is not getting better, in fact, it is getting worse."
The national activist points out that there are political-social movements in the region that have been more successful in this context.
"I don’t set high standards. I’ve done some research on this in Turkey. There are societies with severe issues regarding women, from which political parties and organizations have managed to attract women. For example, in their charters, one of their policies is that they do not accept men who commit violence/abuse against women as members or as heads of any branch of the organization," says Mehsa Mehdili.
She emphasizes that following certain principles is essential to solving this problem:
"There should be a principle that gender should not be seen as a point of weakness in the National Movement. Even when men want to overpower women or bind their hands and feet, targeting them based on gender is unprincipled and immoral. We must make this a principle."
Mehsa Mehdili states that if the situation continues like this, "the Southern Azerbaijan National Movement will be emptied of women and will project an anti-woman image."
"Denial of discrimination against women by a national activist is similar to denying oppression and discrimination by a Persian against Turks or Azerbaijan. We must confront both types of discrimination, without favoring one over the other... Sometimes I encounter responses like, 'Let our national government be established, or let us gain our national rights, and then women's rights will be given.' Today, these activists who consider themselves chosen cannot accept women shoulder to shoulder, or, when necessary, attack them based on gender, and if no restrictions are placed on those who apply mental and physical violence against women, this movement will lose fifty percent of our nation," the national activist adds.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Məhsa Mehdili: Belə getsə, milli hərəkatda qadın qalmayacaq [Audio-Müsahibə] share Məhsa Mehdili: Belə getsə, milli hərəkatda qadın qalmayacaq