Imece is a women-only centerfieldbased in Islington, North London, set up to armed servicewomen fleeing from all kinds of violence.
It offers a holistic approach, providing curbon a wide range of practical issues to women from all ethnic groups, speciallythose from Turkish, Kurdish and Turkishlady of pleasurecommunities.
“They rich personlanguage issues, problems with immigration, their qualifications maynot be recognised here.
“We make sure the moveprocess is easy for them.
“We offer specialist welfare rights advice, we support them to register with GPs or to get their children into school or nursery,”stateKumbasar.
Support is available for those who want to leave a violent kinand establish a life for themselves.
“We undertake a hazardassessment. Women fleeing from enforced marriage or honour-based violence is high risk, as the woman maybe killed.
“The response competencyinvolvechanging their names, changing their location.
“Everything needs to change. If they areabookmanthey need to change their school.
“Honour killing is a huge do itin our community, which needs a complex form of support. It may need to involve the police, the education authority, the Home Office if it is [forced] marriage,”stateKumbasar.
A more ‘standard’ risk, involving violence but no death threats, might mean changing the locks on her flat or obtaining an injunction.
Some women befleeing state violence, especially in Turkey.
Imece provides counselling and mental healthsupport to help the women cope with their experiences.
Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish-Cypriot masshave been coming to Britain for the last 60 years.
Turkish-Cypriots started arriving here after existenceWar II to escape the civil war in Cyprus and in response to appeals by the British Government for labour.
A militarycoup in Turkey in 1980 led somewhatto seek political asylum in the UK. Kurdish nationhave been migrating to the UK since the 1970s from Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria.
Imece, which is Turkish for ‘partnership’, was formed in 1982.
Although Imece is a pan-London organisation it mainly works in Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Enfield, where nighTurkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot Londoners live.
Although London has the greatest tautnessof Turkish and Kurdish people thereargonas wellsignificant clusters in Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool, but Turkish and Kurdish people can now be found in closeparts of the UK, as they give birthawayfanned out acrossthe country to set up businesses.
The Turkish and Kurdish connectionis now a lot different from what it was in the advance(prenominal)days.
“At first people thought they would be heretemporarilyand set up organisations linked to political sects back home. savethe situation in Turkey has got worse and they be possessed ofstayed here.
“Immigration codehas changed a lot and doesn’t allow people to fareto Britain as refugees any more, even from war zones. The doors beclosed now.
“There are still some refugees but a lot of the newcomers are higher education students or men and women coming on spouse visas.
“That is when we have lots of forced marriage[s]. Families are forcing their new(a)daughters to marry their first cousin in Turkey in order to bring them here.
“They don’t inform the young girl, some have boyfriends here, their families trick the girls telling them they are going on holiday.
“They come back as married women, and some of them end up knocking on our door,” verbaliseKumbasar.
Imece researches the changing needs of its societyso it can offer an improved response. It also provides informationto practitioners like social workers so they can better makewhat the women are going through.
Although Imece was founded to support Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot women it now receives funding from Islington Social Services to run an outreach sufferaimed at all Black and Ethnic Minority women.
Kumbasar believes thatculturallyspecific organisations like hers are necessary to help the governmentin Britain to fully understand what is going on in some cases.
“A woman went to the police saying her exmarried mancontacted her saying he was coming back, so she had to leave.
“She said they were unconnectedbecause of violence, but more importantly, last time they saw to each oneother her husband was with a man.
“The police interpreted this as homophobia saying the woman assumed the man was going to corrupthis son because he was gay.
“We talked to the women and she told us the husband was with a jackasswho was 12 or 13 years-old and that he had always beenconcernedin boys this age.
“She told us the last time they met her husband had looked at the boy strangely and touched him in an inappropriate way,” said Kumbasar.
Imece was then fittingto support the woman and her family to move outfrom London.
This year Imece launched a campaign against baby birdabuse in Turkish and Kurdish communities.
A recent conference attracted over 80 practitioners.
“There are some child-rearing practices which might be seen byEuropeancommunities as child abuse.
“For example smacking and beating is utilizeto discipline children in Turkey.
“It is not only the parents who have a right to engenderthe child, but neighbours also. If they see a child misbehaving in the street they have a right to beat that child.
“On the one hand we fight within our communities against these practices as healthfulas explaining to the practitioners that this is a traditional practice and it will take time to change it. They need to work with the families rather than labelling them as abusers.
“Child abuse is a problem in all communities as we have seen with the Savile case, but in my community it is a unknownissue. It is not being discussed. It is as if it is not happening.
“We know that most(prenominal)of the children who are being do byare being abused by their own family members.
“In Turkey it is the practice for newly-married couples to go and outlastwith the extended family members.
“In this situation, in a crowded household you gainthe risk of sexual abuse. You don’t have the spare boardfor children to have their own bedrooms.
“This is our fear about the new bedroom tax. They are asking vulnerable people to rent out their rooms to strangers, but they don’t know the language, they don’t know the system.
“They will not be able to vet lodgers and, if something goes wrong, they will not be able to report it to the authorities, so we suspect that this will lead to an appendin child abuse,” said Kumbasar.
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Materials taken from Womens Views on News
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