How did it begin?
Margarita Papandreu
In the year 1996 an incident occurred concerning the sovereignty of a small island in the Aegean, we call it Imea, the Turks call it Kardak. That in itself suggests some dissonance. The way we heard it was, a few young fellows sailing a boat took the Greek flag off its perch and replaced it with a Turkish flag. When this was discovered, within a few hours the Greek fleet was out and airplanes started roaring over the area. Turkey also brought out its fleet and planes. And here we were, on the edge of war.
Zeynep Oral
In the year 1996 an incident occurred concerning the sovereignty of some rocks in the Aegean – we call it Kardak., the Greeks call it Imea… A small Turkish boat had hit those rocks and instead of asking help from the Turkish security, help was asked from the Greek security… This offended some Turks, since those islets were so near to the Turkish coast…
And, some were asking: Whose rocks were these anyway? …
Margarita
During that night, while the naval and air forces of both countries moved into combat positions and the governments were in their war chambers, strategizing; I sat watching TV and listening to all the talking heads discussing what should be done, who was responsible, how militaristic was the other side, etc. Worst of all, the tone of the talks was often irresponsibly
macho. I kept zapping around the channels, with one purpose only: to find out if any woman had been asked how she felt about the situation, how it should be handled and what it was all about. There was none. They were talking about war! And, who are the true victims of war for god’s sake? Women and children. War is no longer armies clashing in the night. Wars are against civilian populations. As a feminist and a peace activist, this made me very angry.
I spoke with some members of our organization, Center for Research and Action on Peace. We were feeling helpless, and we were afraid. We talked about Turkish women. Were they also experiencing some of the same feelings? We decided to write an open letter to Turkish Women, and we quickly go it into the Greek newspapers.
Zeynep
On those days, we were being fed war strategies by the politicians. On both sides these had started to agitate the public opinion. Everybody on both sides were pointing to an “enemy”, I always thought that pointing to the enemy was a way of taking people’s focus away from domestic problems. Remembering the poem of the Greek poet Kavafis; now each side was waiting for the “barbarians,“ In a moment of crisis, unless there were serious attempts at laying a deep base for trust and understanding, the underlying hostilities of two nations could surface and cause an unmeditated action. How slippery the concepts of “friendship” and “enmity” can be… Passing from one stage to the other could be a matter of a moment, a matter of a single spark…
Margarita
This was our “Open letter to the women of Turkey”:
Regardless of who is responsible for the recent incidents in the Aegean, we urge you to join us in pressuring our governments
to avoid all acts of provocation which might result in an armed conflict. When a decision is made to use violence to resolve a problem it is made without consultation with the population of women, who not only bring life into the world, but are, along with the children, the primary victims. It is important that we make our voices heard. The best method is to respect international law and international institutions. We have recently witnessed the barbarism and brutality of war in our neighboring country, the former Yugoslavia. We are sure you agree that we cannot accept for our peoples such a solution. We believe we can live harmoniously together, while maintaining our national and cultural identity. Let us do everything in our powers to build a peace culture which will be a formidable barrier to militaristic jingoism and war. We send our warm and friendly greetings. Margarita Papandreou, president On behalf of all the members
of KEDE” The first response we got was a phone call from Zeynep Oral.
Zeynep
The next thing I know was, we were talking on the phone with Margarita. I had met Margarita Papandreou at the Women’s
World Conference in Nairobi in 1985, not because she was the wife of the Greek Prime minister, but because she was someone working on women’s issues. She was a peace activist all her life. I totally agreed with her. It was time for Greek and Turkish women to work together for our common interest.
Having learned about her letter and our conversation on the phone the first thing I did was to send an invitation to a very large number of women’s organizations in Turkey, asking them if they were interested in to work with Greek women for certain goals, mainly for building a peace culture. After a few days, 20 women, representing different NGO’s, gathered
at my home in İstanbul discussing what could be done.
Margarita
Our first step was to set up a small group, at my home in Athens. Three women came from Istanbul. We held intense discussions that lasted over two days. Out of this, came a statement of purpose, a mission statement to submit to a larger group. We took the decision to meet with 15 women representing various women’s organizations from each side on the Greek island of Kos and then jump on a ferry boat to cross the sea to the Turkish town of Bodrum.
Zeynep
In our “Mission Statement” that we adopted in Bodrum, we said :
“A large part of humanity’s past is located in the Mediterranean. The Aegean is the cradle of remarkable civilizations which have influenced the course of history. The civilizations and cultures varied but we, women could always find common denominators. . . . Our long struggles have endowed us with rich experiences. We learned to study the culture of others. We learned how to analyze and distinguish the differences between us, which allows us to open new roads of action. With great sensitivity, we can see invisible, probable, bridges of communication. . . . We intend to carry this capacity of women into the relations between Greece and Turkey, and to sustain solidarity and peace in the region. . . .”
Margarita
In our first meetings in Kos and Bodrum, in April 30-May 2, 1998; we, women from Greece and Turkey launched WINPEACE,
which is an acronym for the Women’s Initiative for Peace …
I am not saying we stopped the war. that might have happened over a flag and an island . But I think we started a process
that in large partly created a climate that made it impossible for a small incident to lead to a war. This is a great achievement.
Zeynep
We were aware that maybe we couldn’t solve technical problems between the two countries but we could point the way to resolution without violence and without threats. We would put all our efforts together to develop non-violent solutions to all problems and tensions. We would do this using a gender analysis and women’s practical problem solving
methods. We would develop an atmosphere of trust and understanding between us.Margarita
How would this latter aim be accomplished? By working together. By creating common short and long term concrete projects, we, ourselves had to do some training as well. So we reeducated ourselves.
Zeynep
First of all we had to create a common language, a language that was independent from governments and state politics.
We were women with different backgrounds, professions and different opinions. While working on our projects on one hand, we would be getting to know and trust each other. We tried to put ourselves in “the other’s” place. We tried to give up the notion that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. If we wanted peace for ourselves, we had to ensure the security of the other side. We had to secure the peace for the other side. In the learning process, we, women from both countries, were trained by experts in conflict resolution.
In our meetings, we worked on particular issues such as reduction of arms; reassessing the common history, peace education, contribution of non-governmental institutions in conflict resolution, agro-tourism, etc. Over time we have succeeded to create that common language that we were seeking for.; and internalized it. From then on it was “WE”.
The word “we” no longer meant the “Turkish side” or “the Greek side”. It meant WINPEACE.
Margarita
Most of these issues that Zeynep has mentioned had turned into joint projects that were practical and down to earth.
We have been organizing series of seminars and summer schools for young people, university and high school students,
with emphasis on conflict resolution, democracy and human rights education. We have witnessed how preconceived
ideas and feelings could change in those youth camps. Our youth camps got so popular that the university students that attended our camps started a chain of summer camps among themselves…
Zeynep
We extended our work to rural women. Our Greek members, introduced us to the agro tourism women cooperatives which were widespread in Greece. With their help, we started similar projects in 3 mountain villages in Turkey.
After having training on women’s awareness, tourism, cooperative management, boarding house management, agricultural production, packaging, marketing, the women from these villages formed their own cooperatives. It was a fabulous and exiting experience to see the women from rural areas of both countries coming together. Non of them spoke English. They didn’t have a common language to communicate but had a common life, concerns and feelings;
We carried out an extensive research and prepared a text book for a course entitled “Peace education”. It was designed
to be implemented as part of the curriculum of schools in both Greece and Turkey. This course was taught in some pilot schools and upon it’s success it was introduced to teachers in several workshops in Turkey.
Some of these projects were supported and financed by the EU, and we are grateful for it.
Margarita
We had children books and literature translations. More over in order to get to know “the other” in a better way from women’s point of view we also had publications of women writers in both countries We did not limit our work with Turkey and Greece. Together, we participated and contributed in many meetings, congresses, seminars and demonstrations
in which we uttered our opinions. WINPEACE, represented by Zeynep and me, organized a group of women peace activists of international reputation and went to Bagdad in January of 2003 to explore the possibilities of a peaceful solution to the American threat of war, in other words, to do what we think women do best, to prevent a war before it starts.
Zeynep
It wasn’t any surprise to any of us, when our Greek members of WINPEACE, campaigned for the cause of their Turkish
sisters, which was to be part of EU. Many among them, wrote articles and gave interviews to local and international media advocating Turkey’s presence in the EU.
Margarita
Since we were working for an environment and culture of peace in our region and since we want to bring a women’s perspective into international relations; it seemed quite natural to us that we would be strong advocates of Turkey’s admission to the European Union. For at least a decade, women in many countries have been trying, without much success, to get the attention of foreign policy makers in powerful nations, especially the United States, to
make the point that women must be factored into strategic thinking if moderation is ever to prevail in societies that have become breeding grounds for terror and repression.
Zeynep
Not that women are necessarily more tolerant, democratic or peace-loving across the board; Indira Ganhdi, Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher spring to mind as the counterpoint to shaky feminist theory.
Millions of women, given basic rights, including the right to vote, have often chosen cautious, political paths, preferring problem-solving to confrontation and militancy.
Margarita
We are willing to bet that a huge, direct investment in women, in their education, health, housing and civil rights, in countries that are likely candidates for war; would bring almost immediate rewards in calming and settling down a dysfunctional society. It is for this reason that WINPEACE is proposing a WOMEN’S EU PEACE AND TRAINING CENTER.
We will be working on this in the coming years.
Zeynep
The poem by the great Greek poet Kavafys “Waiting for the Barbarians” ends with these stanzas:
“… the dark has come, the barbarians have not.
And the messengers returning from the border say
There are no barbarians any more.
So, what shall we do now that there are no barbarians?
They had always been a kind of solution to our problems…”
When Margarita asked me, if I wanted anything for her to say, I answered: “Yes, you can tell them, that as we worked and worked and worked together for all these years , WE have given up waiting for the ‘barbarians’ after all…” I believe that could be an example for the EU as well!!!!!