MP Selina Dogan Commemorates Feminist Armenian Women in the Turkish Parliament

ISTANBUL (Agos) — CHP Istanbul MP Selina Dogan commemorated Armenian writers and thinkers Elbis Gesaratsyan, Sirpuhi Düsap, Zabel Asadur, Zabel Yesayan and Hayganus Mark, who are considered as the first feminists of Turkey, in the parliament.

Stating that many things have been said on the occasion of March 8 but the problem remains as it is, Dogan said, “This means that either the way we discuss this issue is not right or we are not sincere.”

Saying that others and minorities are forgotten in the history of women’s struggle in Turkey, Dogan said: “While Halide Edip is naturally commemorated with respect, her contemporary Zabel Yesayan, with whom she exchanged letters, is ignored. While dear Sabiha Sertel has the place she deserved in the feminism history of this country, nobody remembered her contemporary Elbis Gesaratsyan. While Nezihe Muhiddin, who struggled for enfranchisement of woman and whom I respect deeply, was making feminist history, her counterpart Hayganus Mark, who issued a woman magazine for 14 years, is not remembered at all.”