Message from women of the world to Kurdish women: Your struggle is our struggle!

On March 8, International Women’s Day, Dicle Amed Women’s Platform (DAKAP) organized a protest in Station Square in Diyarbakır’s Yenişehir district, attended by hundreds of women. While thousands of women wore their national clothes during the event, the police attacked the women.  In response to the attacks, the women shouted their demands at the protest. Many women’s organizations and their leaders, who were unable to attend the protest, sent messages in honour of International Women’s Day, of especially Kurdish women.

The following women’s organizations, institutions, and representatives from the Middle East, South and North Africa sent messages to the protest:

“We will fight tenaciously”

Democratic Women’s Alliance in the Middle East and North Africa (NADA): “On behalf of NADA, we celebrate International Women’s Day 2022 in honour of all women around the world and remember those women who have died in the struggle for freedom. We stress that we are full of hope, resistance, and resolve to crown women’s liberation and feminist movements around the world, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa region, for the sake of women’s freedom and dignified life. We have seen and continue to see women’s resistances that have shattered the patriarchal system’s foundations. As the NADA Alliance, we vow that we will fight these abuses tenaciously in the Middle East and North Africa, where severe violations against women are on the rise.

“Attacks on Kurdish women continue”

In addition to the destruction that the global capitalist system is attempting to spread in order to overcome the structural crisis that it is experiencing, many countries react to invasions and wars in order to protect their own interests and prolong their lives in the region. Women’s resistance persists in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and Yemen. Despite the government’s attacks on women’s lives aimed at usurping their rights and dignity, the escalation of the wave of special attacks on Kurdish women, and the forced arrests and systematic violence they have faced, campaigns launched one after the other by women’s associations and networks have increased over the past year.

“Our resistance grows”

Despite the assault on herself and her family, as well as the violence and suffering she has endured in Western Sahara, warrior Sultana Khaya’s fight continues unabated. Despite the Taliban’s tacit legitimacy and the atrocities against humanity and women in Afghanistan, Afghan women’s resistance is growing. Despite Turkey’s control of several cities and regions in Syria, multiple wars, artillery and air assaults, and particularly targeting women resisting in northeastern Syria, women are fighting with tenacity for life step by step. We can clearly see that the spread of the patriarchal system in our regions, with its various destructive methods, tools, and institutions, reminds us once again of the need for an all-out and united struggle that transcends all borders, dissipates women’s struggles for existence and freedom, and utilizes our unity and energy.

We declare our devotion with our slogan, ‘We will secure effective equality, true democracy, and social justice through women’s union,’ which we began this year with our attitude against women’s common oppression. Long live the Middle East and North African women’s union and organized resistance!”

“We resist and live long”

World March of Women (WMW) Middle East and North Africa Coordinator Ruba Odeh: “On International Women’s Day, we express our solidarity and support for female prisoners in Turkish prisons on behalf of the International Middle East Women’s Movement and the North Africa Coordination, and we support their right to freedom and freedom of thought. It is a just cause for achieving liberty, social justice, dignity, and equality. On March 8, we commemorate the fight of all oppressed women under the stress and burden of oppression, as well as the right of all oppressed nations and peoples to achieve freedom and independence and to construct a globalized world and a society that is free from oppression and injustice. Freedom for Ayşe Gökkan, Aysel Tuğluk, Leyla Güven, Figen Yüksekdağ, Sebahat Tuncel, Gültan Kışanak and Ayla Akat Ata. As long as you walk on the paths of freedom, We resist and live long in order to bring about change.”

“Kurdish women are a hope for our struggle”

(WMW) South Africa Delegate Kaouther Abbes: “Dear Kurdish sisters, you have played a vital and inspiring role in understanding and expanding your struggle, which has become our struggle. We know how arduous your struggle for equality and freedom has been as you led the revolution against patriarchal and Islamo-fascist forces during and after the war against ISIS. The fight for women’s rights is now viewed as a political act and a powerful tool for changing our world. And you, our sisters in Kurdistan, activists on the ground, mothers and wives, are mobilizing massively so that the world can hear your voices. Our sisters in Kurdistan, as part of our international movement, World March of Women, which embraces the brotherhood of solidarity for an equal and peaceful world for all, my colleague Wilhelmina and I offer our support and respect for you. We have learned a lot from you, and you are a wonderful source of hope for our women’s struggle. Happy March 8th, my sisters, and we will resist in order to live together and pursue the path of change.”