The Women of KAMER

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Violence across the personal-political continuum is everyone’s business, and addressing violence at any level across the spectrum cannot operate in a silo. Recognizing this, a women’s collective known as The Kamer Foundation, or Ka-Mer, began against the backdrop of attacks, clashes, arrests, torture, and death in Turkey, especially in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia in 1984. As they looked at the violent world around them, they began with a key question: “For whom does killing, beating, hanging, stabbing, and raping others come so easily?” As they introspected on factors such as upbringing and cultures that normalized violence, the women’s group turned its focus to the home – the site where violence is most often normalized.

Starting out as survivors themselves, KAMER (Women’s Center, Education, Production Consultation, and Solidarity Foundation) was founded in 1997 after a preparatory period initiated since 1994. The initiative continues to offer shelter and legal aid for women threatened by relatives. The founder was an elementary school teacher who committed her life and work to addressing the oppression of Kurdish women through her own and her husband’s experiences with violence in the 1980s and 1990s (Gokalp, 2010).

Departing from other feminist approaches in Turkey, KAMER shifted its focus away from notional feminist issues and paid attention to addressing the cultural, social, and political views on women in Kurdish society. With time, they began to recognize through their alliances and partnerships with Turkish feminists, that honour killings were a raging challenge that needed addressing, and began to advocate for these issues as well. This partnership evoked a few criticisms for KAMER, as many accused it of being “ignorant to the reality of the Kurdish struggle” and “pragmatist and elite.” Over time, KAMER has built a global reach through partnerships and participation in global campaigns, too, a facet that has let people to see it as actively striving to cultivate "cosmopolitan human rights norms" to sustain its feminism (Arat & Altınay, 2015).

KAMER’s advocacy addresses a spectrum of forms of gender-based violence, ranging from domestic and intimate partner violence to honour killings and discrimination (Akkoç, 2005). It runs centres across all 23 provinces in Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, and provides services such as counselling, daycare, and employment opportunities to help more and more women gain financial independence (Mojab & Gorman, 2007). They follow an ecosystem approach that involves working with and training whole families to shift their views on women being financially independent.

Holding the State Accountable to End Violence against Women

KAMER has also articulated a decentralized governance model for gender equality, through which it sought to hold the Turkish government responsible and accountable to the International Treaties, Laws, and circulars binding it to address the issue. It also called for gender-responsive budgeting, space for women to participate in politics, access justice, and receive literacy programming. In its advocacy, KAMER recognizes, much like the Kichwa women in Ecuador, the state as an external arbitrator of their rights and holds it accountable under international, regional, and national commitments to address violence against women. This is, undoubtedly, a challenging step to take at a time when Turkey (itself) has withdrawn from the historic Istanbul Convention, which it played a pivotal role into bringing into force.

References

Akkoç, N. (2005). Who's to blame? Project for the development of permanent methods in the struggle against killings committed under the guise of 'honor' in the Southeast and East Anatolia regions. Diyarbakir, Turkey: Ka-Mer.

Arat, Y., & Altınay, A. G. (2015). KAMER, a women's center and an experiment in cultivating cosmopolitan norms. In Women's Studies International Forum (Vol. 49, pp. 12-19). Pergamon.

Gokalp, D. (2010). "A gendered analysis of violence, justice and citizenship: Kurdish women facing war and displacement in Turkey". Women's Studies International Forum. 33 (6): 561–569.

KAMER (2023). Decentralized Governance Model For Gender Equality. https://www.kamer.org.tr/menuis/ce-yym_3_bolum_ingilizce_27_02_23.pdf

Mojab, S. & Gorman, R. (2007). "Dispersed nationalism: war, diaspora and Kurdish women's organizing". Journal of Middle East Women's Studies. 3 (1): 58–85.