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“Our house is on fire! We will put out this fire!” The Greens took action today (September 21) by submitting their documents to the Ministry of Interior and established the Green Party.
The Greens define their goals as “to producing concrete and real solutions to the deadlocked problems of our world that center nature and leaving no member of societies behind.”
The Green Party sets out today (September 21) for a fair, egalitarian, pluralist, libertarian and peaceful world. The Greens offer concrete solutions to the age of crises we live in, especially the climate crisis. Protecting the ecological balance against the exploitation of humans and nature, the Green Party consists of 110 founding members under the co-spokespersons of Emine Özkan and Koray Doğan Urbarlı.
Urbarlı: We are in an environment of economic, social and ecological crisis
Co-spokesperson of the Green Party, Koray Doğan Urbarlı said to the Yeşil Gazete during the interview that todays Turkey needs the Green Party more than ever.
Let’s think of the agenda, but the real agenda. The economic crisis and inequalities in which the pandemic ignited; the crisis of democracy symbolized by the barriers standing in front of everyone on the streets and the people choosing not to speak of it; endless and endless massacres of nature and murders of women, even femicide, where even useful texts are targeted, let alone trying to prevent them. In short, we are in an economic, social and ecological crisis environment. Worse, we have been living in this crisis environment for a long time and people have given up their hope of the country.
“We set out to be a response to despair”
Urbarlı stating that they set out to answer this despair as the Green Party, “If the Green Party does not speak it’s words, climate crises will not be spoken in the today’s Turkey; If the Green Party does not speak its word, we cannot get out of vicious discussions and talk about the democratic and free country of the future; If the Green Party does not say its word, the sound of a tree in Kazdağları and a tree in Hasankeyf cannot meet in the political environment. We are starting out with the need to bring this voice together.”
Yeşiller Partisi Eş Sözcüsü Koray Doğan Urbarlı
The first issues the party will focus on
Sharing information on the first issues to be focused on as the party, Urbarlı said, “The first issue we will focus on is of course our awareness and organization. There are huge Political Parties Law and Election Law in Turkey that we must overcome. This will be the first issues we will focus on.”
Stating, this does not mean that they will only focus on their internal affairs, Urbarlı said, “I can say that we will be there where we need to be, as the climate crisis has become so painful, forest fires continue, and femicide continues unabated. First of all, through you, let me start by calling everyone to the Climate Strike that will take place on September 25.”
Özkan: Fair and ecological solutions are based on green policy
Co-spokesperson Green Party Emine Özkan, emphasizing that Turkey is in a multiple crises environment stated the founding reason during the interview with Yeşil Gazete as:
Today, Turkey is finding a closed approach to differences in political life in a tight area. However, we need pluralistic and democratic politics in Turkey’s approach to the realization of a way to open dialogue. The Green Party aims to achieve this with the policies it will produce in line with its principles.
However, we are in a period in which ecological and social crises are experienced together and intertwined with each other. As the Green Party, we are aware of the causes and consequences of these crises. We know that fair and ecological solutions on the planet are based on green policies. In this multiple crisis on Turkey’s behalf to work to do its part, we established the Green Party.
Yeşiller Partisi Eş Sözcüsü Emine Özkan
‘We oppose the male-dominated approach’
Stating that the gender equality and an attitude based on feminism are at the center of all the processes that took place during the establishment of the party, Özkan said, “Similarly, one of our ten principles determined based on participatory decision-making methods is Gender Equality and Feminism. You can also see the details of our party’s road map on this issue under the title of gender and sexuality in the party program we created on the way to the establishment.”
Özkan, who we asked how the principle of gender inequality came to life in the policy proposals brought by the Green Party and in the internal functioning of the party, gave the following statements:
First of all, we oppose the male-dominated approach that we see and experience widely in society. Because we know that this approach constantly exposes women, even men, regardless of their sexual orientation, to violence. In order to ensure gender equality, we demand the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. We consider the establishment of a gender ministry as a duty.
When we turn to ourselves, we care and apply rules such as quotas, vertical parity in elections and speaking for the participation of women and LGBTQI + people in political decision-making mechanisms.
What does the Green Party offer as a solution?
The solution proposals that came to the fore in the program of the Green Party were listed as follows:
- Carbonless economy: The climate crisis, which shakes social and political structures, economic relations and dynamics, is caused by the fossil fuel dependence in the economy. The solution is to decarbonize the economy. We aim to completely abandon the use of fossil fuels by 2050.
- Green New Deal: A total transformation with the encouragement of economic activities such as transforming energy and transport infrastructure, energy efficiency, creating better jobs and increasing the quality of life, cohesion, sustainable tourism, small-scale agriculture, maintenance services, jobs in alternative and informal areas.
- Water right for all: Water is an indispensable right of all people, other living creatures and future generations. As Greens, we will develop water policies that repair the disturbed water cycle and aim to save water in agricultural, domestic and industrial water use.
- Good, clean and healthy food for everyone! We will ban agricultural poisons that threaten natural resources, biological diversity, human and animal health. We will establish an incentive and guarantee infrastructure that will save farmers from being dependent on companies and agricultural poisons. We will prevent the consumption of natural resources, soil degradation, deforestation and desertification through holistic, restorative and sustainable agricultural practices.
- Gender and Sexuality: The Space of Rights, Equality and Freedom! We set out to perpetuate structural and relational changes in every field in order to change the male-dominated mentality and liberate women, men, LGBTQI + all individuals based on equal citizenship.
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— Yeşiller Partisi (@YesillerPartisi) September 21, 2020
‘Another world is possible’
Saying that they set out to produce the word of the future together with future generations, the Green Party expresses that another world is possible where people live in harmony with nature, freely and equally.
The Greens, declaring that they have established a festive structure based on pluralism, counting diversity as wealth, based on non-violence, defending a peaceful life, aiming direct democracy and based on participation, invites everyone who believes in their fundamental principles to walk together towards becoming a party like the world they dream of.
Green Party Founders
Greens Party Assembly Members
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