DicleArya/JINHA

BEHDİNAN – With just over a month to go until Turkey's June 7 election, ElifRonahi, a leader in the Kurdish women's guerrilla group KJK, says the rise of thePeoples' Democratic Party (HDP) represents a new stage in the struggle for women's liberation in Turkey.

"It's important not to see the HDP as a classic party or the women political leaders in the HDP as classic representatives," said Elif, commenting on the rise of the party, which aims to gain a historically high vote in the June election with its pro-woman platform.

The HDPis a party closely linked to the movement for women's equality in Turkey, said Elif. She noted that the inequalities that drove women to the mountains were heightening under the current ruling party.

"As a result, any alternative system to current masculine politics unavoidably has to be focused on women," she said. She called the pro-womenHDP a first in Turkey's politics, with its policies like a gender parity co-chair system for all posts and half-women parliamentary list.

Elif said thatwhat will be crucial is what women politicians do next to realize their power. Women would need, she said, to organize in the fields of economy, education, healthcare and the legal system to erode the misogynistic mindset that underlies these institutions. She proposed founding Women's Politics Academies as one way to realize women's transformative power.

"We shouldn't forget that this isn't just an election campaign," she said. "This is the beginning of people expressing a preference for a new way of life. So every vote for the HDP is a vote for this new life."

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