KADEM Organized A Panel In New York, Regarding The Refugee Women In Turkey And In World

March 15th 2018, New York

KADEM organized a panel in New York in cooperation with “Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC)” and “Muslim American Society (MAS NY)” to attract public attention to problems of refuge women and to talk about solutions.
Participants of panel were: Dr. Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya- Family and Social Policies Minister,  Prof. Gülnur Aybet- Senior Advisor of President of Turkey Assoc. Prof. E. Sare Aydın Yılmaz-President of KADEM, Halil Mutlu– President of TASC, Murat Güzel- TASK Bord member , Sezer Katırcıoğlu-MP, Noor Rowe – (MAS NY) , Fartun Wali- President of ISUROON Minneapolis , NGO Representatives, students and member of communities.
“Refugee women in Turkey and World” panel started with introduction speech of TASC President Halil Mutlu, afterwards  Minister Dr. Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya made her speech and saluted audiences. In her speech Kaya underlined that, Refugee women are the most vulnerable people and suffered the most because of the wars and conflicts in different parts of the world. She emphasised how important is it  to held this event for  increasing public awareness worldwide  regarding refugee women’s problems. She continued with stressing that immigration in the world is in its highest levels  and number of displaced people are increasing i every day.  By opening its doors to displaced people, Turkish government and Turkish NGO’s are passionately  working for refugees and providing best support to them in whole world. Due to Turkey’s initiatives, women and children of Syria are living in peace in El-Bab and in many other parts of Syria. Syrian women can easily access to all services.
“While all the world were sleeping Turkey worked very hard for refugees.”
After opening and saluting speeches,  Noor Rowe – (MAS NY) , Fartun Wali- President of ISUROON Minneapolis, Assoc. Prof. E. Sare Aydın Yılmaz-President of KADEM and Sezer Katırcıoğlu-MP were the other speaker of the panel which was moderated by  TASC board member Murat Guzel.
First speaker Nor Rowe said people are afraid of refugees in America and added that she did not understand how they are scared of a population which consist of children and women, she continued pointing out that everyone migrated from some other places to live and settle in their current locations, thus everyone is essentially a refugee.  Rowe emphasized that defending refugees is a part of faith and they should not be forgotten but people should come together to defend their rights. She completed her speeches by thanks to Turkey because of Turkey’ efforts to support refugees while the whole world ignored them.
Fartun Wali- President of ISUROON Minneapolis, mentioned about the war in Somalia in her speeches and stated that: “Lots of women took refuge in other countries because of wars and conflicts in Somali and later turned back. Wali said that women in Somalia undertake responsibilities of their families as breadwinners and they need to be empowered. She concluded her speech by expressing her appreciation for support of Turkey ın this issue.
 “We have to help refugee women all together!”
Speaker Assoc. Prof. Sare Aydın, President of KADEM, stated that women and children are the most vulnerable victims of wars. Aydin said that these women, who faced all the oppression of the war, carried the heaviest burden of the war,  they get raped and sexually assaulted,. She asked “In this case, what can they do beside leaving their homeland by taking the hardest decision?”. Aydın continued: “A devastating and terrible war is going on in Syria. Syrian refugees are forced to leave their homes and Turkey gladly opened its doors to them. Now we have to develop policies to integrate women’s refugees with our society. As KADEM, we established Refuge Women’s Socioeconomic Research Centre for Syrian Women. At this center, we work on integration of refugee women, provide solutions by focusing on their psychological, social and economic problems, and offer language and vocational training. Children and women are most affected by war, experiencing violations of human rights and democracy. For a good future, we have to be united without any boundaries. We have to help refugee women all together”
After president Aydın’s speech, Chief Advisor to the President of Turkey Dr. Gülnur Aybet, emphasized that 100,000 refugee children are missing in Europe, and nobody knows why were they abducted for. Aybet continued her words: “More than 6 women in Syria are being held in prisons. International media needs to be active in such matters. ”
 “Open door policy is the foundation of Turkey’s immigrant perspective”
MP Sezer Katırcıoğlu was the panel’s final speaker. She emphasized that the human tragedy in Syria was being healed in Turkey. She said: “We in Turkey recover the humanity that was massacred in Syria. Open door policy is the foundation of Turkey’s immigration perspective. The method developed related to increased migration to Turkey after 2011, enabled us to painlessly get through the integration process of refugees. We are aware of the trauma of war on women and children, and we are taking more care on their integration.”
HAYAL (DREAM) is the brand name of handcrafts produced by refugee women who were trained by expert trainers in our Refuge Women’s Socioeconomic Centre. After the panel discussion held in New York, an exhibition of refuge women photographs was held. Products of HAYAL (DREAM), Refuge Women’s Socioeconomic Research Centre were also put up for sale after the panel.
“Refugee women in Turkey and World” panel in New York ended with a photo of NGO representatives, students and participants.