‘Nûjiyan’ to provide safe space for women

Çarçêla Restaurant

An economic project for women set up by Dêrik Municipality, Çarçêla Rrestaurant only has women workers and offers only traditional dishes.

Lilith Café and Restaurant

The Lilith Café and Restaurant opened in Qamishlo in early autumn 2022 with the support of the Peoples’ Assembly and the Women’s Bureau.

This report by Sorgul Şexo was published by Jinha Women’s News Agency on 6 June, 2023

The Women’s Office of Municipal Councils in the Cizîrê region has started the construction of buildings to provide safe space for women as part of its ‘Nûjiyan (English: New Life)’ project. “The door of Nûjiyan will be open to all women.”

The Women’s Office of Municipal Councils in the Cizîrê (Jazira) region has developed many projects providing job opportunities to women, education to the children of martyrs and promoting agriculture. As part of these projects, the women’s offices in the Qamishlo and Hasakah Cantons have opened the Çarçala Restaurant in Derik, the Lilith Restaurant in Qamishlo, the Language and Computer Center in Qamishlo, a bakery in Tirbê Spî, seven kindergartens and three children’s playgrounds, a carpet-cleaning center and three flower shops in Dirbesiye. The offices also opened 10 public gardens in the cantons.

One of the projects put into practice by the women’s offices in 2022 is the Nûjiyan project to provide safe housing to women. NuJINHA spoke to Jin Bekir, executive of the Women’s Office of Municipal Councils in the Cizîrê region, about their projects.

‘Dozens of women take part in the projects’

“The women’s offices have developed projects according to the economic situation of the region,” Jin Bekir said, “The countries suffering from war and siege also suffer from an economic crisis. Our region also suffers from an economic crisis. This economic crisis affects women the most. We have developed projects to solve the unemployment problem faced by women. So far, we have developed and realised many projects and dozens of women take part in these projects. Many projects in many fields such as agriculture, trade, language and technology, have been developed for women.”

‘The aim of the Nûjiyan project is to solve housing problems faced by women’

Due to the economic crisis, many women need safe spaces. In the interview with us, Jin Bekir said the aim of the Nûjiyan project is to provide safe spaces to women.

“We aim to solve the housing problem faced by women. This project will develop confidence in women and give them psychological support. In 2022, we decided to build houses in Qamishlo for women as part of the project. We have begun to put this project into practice for eight months. We aim to build four building complexes; each of them will have 12 buildings. The construction of a building will be completed soon. We also have a project to build a stadium for women.”

‘Women living alone will not face difficulties in finding safe houses’

‘The door of Nûjiyan will be open to all women’

Expressing that the door of Nûjiyan will be open to all women, Jin Bekir continued as follows:

“Women who live alone, women who have lost their spouses, and women who face financial problems and security problems can apply to our project. The door of the Nûjiyan project is open to all women who want to start a new life but are worried about finding a safe space. Women living alone face difficulty in finding a place and paying their rent. Displaced and refugee women can also stay in these buildings. This project has been put into practice to provide safe spaces and psychological support to women so that they can start a new life. We will also ensure security for women, who will stay in these buildings. 90% of the building construction has already been completed. The women who want to live in these buildings can apply to us.”