On Mothers' Day (9 May), the Mothers for Peace started a sit-down strike in the centrally located Abdi İpekçi park in Ankara to convey their demand for peace and for an end of military operations. By fax they asked for an appointment with the General Staff Presidency. Spokeswomen Nedret Demir, Naciye İlke and Türkiye Bozkurt singed the fax and hope for a positive answer for the Mothers for Peace:
"We are here in Ankara for a two-day sit-down strike because of Mothers' Day. We say 'We do not want any more coffins, we want to hug our children'. The time has come for a democratic and political solution of the Kurdish question. We are here to convey our persistence for peace. A delegation of three people asked for an appointment for Tuesday, 11 May, or on any other suitable day, to communicate our thoughts. We think that the request of the mothers will be accepted, beyond all prejudice. We send our regards".
Support from labour union confederation
Confederation of Trade Unions of Public Employees (KESK) President Samit Evren paid a visit with his delegation to the tent of the Mothers for Peace Initiative in Ankara.
KESK members shouted slogans to end the military operations in the region. KESK President Evren spoke on behalf of the labour union confederation members and said that the struggle for peace would be continued with determination. "We do not want a single person to be imposed to violence or even death", he emphasized.
Evren furthermore criticized the government's program of the "democratic initiative", saying that the constitutional reform package was made without considering the Kurdish question.
Sit-down strike since Sunday
The Mothers for Peace demanded to end the military operations which have lately been intensified in the South-East of the country. Around 100 women are still in the park in Ankara after they had started their protest action on Mothers' Day last Sunday.
Members of the initiative posted banners reading "We do not want coffins, we want to hug our children" and "Stop the military operations, open the way for dialogue".
The Mothers for Peace indicated that also Turkish mothers were harmed by the war. They claimed to bring the war to an end immediately and to end the armed conflict. The Mothers for Peace announced that they would carry on with their protest action until they would receive a positive answer to their requests. (BB/VK)
