Sema Çağlak 

 

DERSİM - Reacting to the murder of Deniz Poyraz and the attacks against HDP, the women from Dersim stated that this massacre occurred as a result of the authorities' targeting. The women emphasized that they could not be ended with massacres by saying; “We are all Deniz”.

 

Deniz Poyraz was killed in the attack carried out by Onur Gencer on the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) İzmir Provincial Organization on June 17. Women and peoples, whose anger grew after the murder of Deniz, took to the streets everywhere and pointed out that this massacre was committed by the government targeting the HDP.

 

Reacting to the murder of Deniz and the attacks, pressures, and threats against HDP, the women from Dersim underlined that they will lay claim to Deniz's legacy.

 

‘We should increase our struggle’

 

Emphasizing that the Denizs cannot be ended with massacre, Nurcan Bingöl noted that the main responsible for this massacre is the government and the language of hatred. Nurcan asks, ‘How long will this hatred continue?’ and saying that the hate, racist and fascist massacres in Turkey must now come to an end. Nurcan stated: ‘’It is enough that we shed our tears. We are all Deniz. This attack is an attack against all women and all peoples. Not just HDP. This is a planned massacre. We believe there are other forces behind it. I do not think that killer did anything on his own. Deniz's murderers must be held accountable. We should increase our unity and struggle against them.’’

 

‘They will never finish us’

 

Gülhan Karaman, who said that they will not end with massacres and attacks, stated that the murder of Deniz Poyraz increased the anger of women. Gülhan continued: ‘’I still have a hard time understanding how this massacre was done. Someone is waving their way into a party building and murdering someone. If there were others inside, he would have killed them too. They cannot get enough of shedding blood, but they do not know this either. One Deniz goes, a thousand Deniz come. They can never finish us. They cannot finish Denizs. They target women, they target oppositions, they target anyone who resists and raises a voice. We are not taking a step back against it, we are walking further and increasing our struggle. We will not be silent until the murderers are held accountable.’’

 

‘We do not want to hear femicide anymore’

 

Vehbiye Tayan, on the other hand, stated that this was not the first time they had experienced this and stated that they knew the murderers from Dersim, Zilan and Madımak. Saying that they open their eyes to a new massacre every day, Vehbiye said: ‘’Deniz's murder has deeply affected me. She was someone I had never met, but I did not need to know her anyway. First and foremost, women are targeted. Politics is done over women. They legitimize the femicides. Deniz was also a woman, and her murder was part of their dirty politics. Women should now stand together and stronger. Other Denizs should not die. Some are targeted and others are murdered and arrested. This order must change now. We are all Deniz Poyraz. And in fact, we also saw that the anger of the people is very great.’’