Conflict: Rümeysa Çamdereli

“10 years ago, we could not talk of a Muslim feminist movement. We were women following a tradition but who tried to say new things and intended to construct new structures. These past 10 years have been first a process of existence, then of becoming visible and finally becoming a “real” part of the feminist movement. We still haven’t persuaded Muslim men that we are Muslim (!), but we think we convinced many feminists that we are feminist, and we are doing our best to foster solidarity. I think that a process, in which the voices of different subjectivities like ours are heard more and in which these subjectivities become more visible within feminism so that it grows, awaits us. Or so I hope."

Rümeysa Çamdereli defines herself as a “Muslim, feminist, musician, mother”. She continued her studies in Istanbul University Women’s Studies Master Program, after graduating from Boğaziçi University’s Computer Engineering Department. She took part in the currently inactive Muslims’ Initiative Against Violence Against Women. Highlighting that she lives a life centred on women’s issues, Rümeysa continues her activist activities with Reçel Blog (Marmalade Blog) and Havle Women’s Association. Rümeysa, who is interested in every genre of music from folk music to rock, plays the electric guitar, teaches, composes and frequently performs. Emphasizing that being on the stage as a Muslim woman might inspire other Muslim women, she states that her goal is to show to them that they can also do it. Rümeysa remarks that people, especially men, whom she thinks are of the same religious belief, usually have a reaction to her as a covered woman making music, and she states that she tries to continue doing what she knows is right in the way she knows is right, sustaining her belief in Allah, in spite of people’s gradually intensifying sense of entitlement and of putting others in place.