First in Turkey: Women’s District Bazaar in Bağlar, Diyarbakır-2

Although women sellers feel a bit hopeless about their current situation, they have close bonds with each other and they work coordinately. They are like a huge family; they attend one another’s weddings and funerals, they share many feelings together.

23 April 2018, Derya Çok

After our interview with Güler Deniz from Bağlar Women Sellers Solidarity Foundation, she invited us to the bazaar. Here is a collection of our interviews with the women there.

What do you think about women’s bazaar?

Woman buyer 1: Women’s bazaar is great, it is more comfortable. We can communicate more easily when the sellers are women. We feel better when we see them here.

Woman buyer 2: Women are more attentive towards us. It would be great if it wasn’t a little bit expensive, but we got used to the women here.

How are you? How are sales going?

1st Woman: It is not going well. We used to earn 100 liras a day but now we can earn 50 max. My husband is very old and my son is in jail, so I need the money.

2nd Woman: It is really bad. It is mostly because the men’s bazaar nearby. Our income has decreased by quarter. I used to bring 6 boxes of watercress but now I can’t even sell one box.

3rd Woman: I have been doing this job for the last five years. We went to the municipality and enlisted. We want our numbers and identities. We don’t have any social security. We have sanitary problems. There is no place nearby for us to pray. And there is also men’s bazaar now, we are ruined.

What are you needs? What would make your lives easier?

• We want our numbers; we want to have social insurance.
• We need a mobile toilet.
• We don’t want men to intervene with our business.
• We expect solidarity from other women’s organizations.
• We want all the women to come and shop from women’s bazaar.
• We want serious measures to be taken for our safety.