PAJK urges women to revolt against male domination

The PAJK Coordination has released a written statement to mark the 43rd anniversary of the PKK. “We are celebrating the 43rd anniversary of the PKK, a women’s freedom party, insisting that the 21st century will be the century of women’s freedom. Our 44th year of struggle will be the year of victory when Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom will be secured and Kurdistan’s lack of political status will be removed,” the statement said.

The statement continued:

“As a result of a 5-year struggle carried out by a group of young people in Ankara under the leadership of Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK was officially established by holding its first congress on 27 November 1978 in Fis village of Lice district of Amed, south-eastern Turkey. Apart from being a political party, this organization was also a liberation movement that advocated the resistance and freedom of the oppressed. This feature made the PKK focus on the freedom of women, who were the most oppressed segment in society during its initial years. Öcalan described the emergence of the PKK as ‘a new way of life and an act of honour with a historical social meaning’. As a movement for humanity, women, laborers, free people and society, PKK took its source from the peoples’ struggle in Kurdistan and the Middle East.

The PKK which represented the outcry of the Kurdish youth, has introduced a wave of freedom since its inception, and influenced the whole of Kurdistan. It made its voice heard among the Kurdish people, won the hearts of the people and became a popular movement. With the introduction of the democratic, ecological and women’s liberation paradigm, it has become the only and true voice of the people of Kurdistan.

The historical freedom struggle carried out under the leadership of the PKK has fought, resisted and created values by paying huge prices with its army of tens of thousands of martyrs to promote a free life for all humanity. The reality of martyrs within the PKK is both the justification and the guarantee of a free life for the people of Kurdistan. Following this line created by these martyrs is the only justification for an honourable life. Moreover, it is certain that a movement which gave so many martyrs cannot not be defeated. There is no other way than a victory in a struggle led by Haki, Mazlum, Kemal, Sara, Zilan, Agit, Rüstem, Şilan, Simko, Viyan, Gelhat, Arin, Delal, Hilmet, Kasım, Hawar and Esmer, and thousands of other heroes.

With its women’s liberation line, the PKK has filled the biggest deficiency of the world revolutionary socialist movements and has led the way. The women’s liberation line, developed thanks to the genuine efforts of Öcalan, has displayed historical developments over time. The success of the PKK, which has existed for half a century, has not been destroyed and has asserted its legitimacy all over the world. It stems from its insistence on struggle. It has revealed the power of the free individual and renewed itself by coming to terms with the spirit of the time.

The most radical of these novelties and the one that has the most influential and constructive effects on society are the steps related to women’s freedom. The problem of women’s freedom, which was offered as a solution to the Kurdish deadlock for the first time, has been at the centre of the PKK struggle since its emergence. Women’s freedom is the main pillar of the PKK. The theory of separation from men, doing away with men’s and women’s liberation ideology was formulated during the years of fierce struggle which marked the beginning of a new age of resistance and free life. With this dynamic mentality and physical strength, YJWK was established, and then the heroic resistance of the Kurdish people for women’s freedom emerged with the establishment of YAJK, and finally, PAJK created a women’s party to pave the way for freedom of the whole society.

The PKK is the only legitimate, national, democratic and free identity of the Kurdish people. The PKK is the only way for the Kurdish people to live together with the peoples of the Middle East based on democratic principles. The PKK has always remained as a youth movement. The PKK represents the courage to revolt against the oppressors, the voice of the oppressed, and the truth itself.

The PKK played a leading role in developing the struggle for a democratic nation throughout the Middle East and the world. The third line put forward by all peoples in the Middle East finds its expression in the PKK’s resistance against all international hegemonic and regional reactionary attacks, the fascist genocidal attacks of Turkey, and in all the gains that this resistance has brought about. PKK’s women’s freedom line, its political line and organizational systems based on women’s mind influences and leads all emancipatory, ecological, left-socialist groups and organizations in the Middle East and the world. In its 44th year, the PKK is closer than ever to a free society, a democratic nation and women’s freedom in Kurdistan and the Middle East.

The AKP-MHP fascism is a genocidal government which disregards social values and represents the hegemony of capitalist modernity. As long as it pursues this monist fascist line, it spreads a political malaise to the whole society by transforming the regional forces into mercenary groups and mafia at their command. In its heyday with its current universalized struggle, the PKK has not stopped fighting this fascist government for a single moment when it is at its strongest.

The struggle led by HPG and YJA Star guerrillas during the last 7 months of resistance has swept aside the AKP-MHP block. The blows that YJA Star guerrillas inflicted on the fascist Turkish army frustrated the fascist army. The tactical mastery of the guerrilla troops also served as a model in the history of guerrilla warfare. Frustrating the attacks of the enemy army, the tactical mastery, the unprecedented technical equipment and the voluntary resistance of the guerrilla forces against chemical attacks have already taken their place in the honourable history of the people of Kurdistan. This struggle of the guerrillas consists of the actions that foster and bring the Freedom Time campaign to victory. The repercussions of these actions in the social and political arena will secure victory.

The AKP-MHP reactionary alliance, which remains the most fascist, fraudulent, immoral and male-dominated government in the history of the Turkish Republic, has entered a process of collapse. The AKP-MHP government has also forced the KDP to take part in its dirty alliance and made it fight against the PKK. As a result of its partnership with the genocidal anti-Kurdish AKP-MHP government, the KDP has completely been discredited by the people of Kurdistan. The 44th year of the PKK’s struggle will be a year during which AKP-MHP fascism will collapse and be thrown into the dustbin of history just like the previous genocidal governments. Likewise, it will be a year during which all kinds of fascist, male-dominated and collaborative groups that are partners to the genocidal regime will be defeated.

A victory which will befit our long years of struggle, our army of martyrs, and heroic epics will be achieved through the collective power and social leadership of all women. We will not leave our society, values, history, women and children at the mercy of this fascist male domination. We will increase our actions to avenge all women and establish a system based on women’s freedom under the motto ‘It is time to defend free women and society against femicide’, and we will carry it to victory in the 44th year of struggle.

Therefore, we celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the PKK and congratulate our inspiration for women’s freedom, Öcalan, and all our people and resisting comrades. We call on the women of Kurdistan and the world to join the efforts to overthrow the fascist ruling system. We call all women to rebellion, action and victory. We call on our patriotic people to embrace and expand their patriotic values ​​in the person of our great patriotic martyr Yusuf Gulo, and to develop their revolt against the genocidal regimes by uniting around the moral values ​​of the PKK. We call on all the youth of Kurdistan to join the PKK, a youth movement, to increase the resistance and join the great actions to strike the final blow against the oppressors. We call on all social groups to embrace the resistance led by women, to join the resistance in order to realize the utopia of our martyrs, and to live the age of modern goddesses by building a free life.”