The march launched by the Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad – TJA) from Amed to Ankara under the slogan “We walk to freedom with hope” is now in its third day.
In the morning, the participants gathered at the house where Abdullah Öcalan was born in the Amara village, in the Halfeti district of Urfa. Then they set off for Birecik district.
After a long walk, the women arrived in the district and were greeted enthusiastically by party members and citizens. Continuing their march along the banks of the Euphrates River with slogans, the women voiced their demands. The women conveyed a message of peace with their white headscarves. The activists made a statement as they crossed to the west bank of the Euphrates via the Birecik Bridge.
The Co-Mayor of Dersim Municipality, Birsen Orhan, who was removed from office, emphasized that every step they take is for freedom and peace. She said, “We are walking in the footsteps of the Kurdish women who were ignored and saw their villages burned down in the 1990s, of the Alevi, disappeared and murdered women, of Mother Taybet, whose dead body remained on the street for days, of Mother Halise, the remains of whose son were sent to her by courier, and of Nagehan Akarsel who was murdered in Sulaymaniyah.”
Birsen Orhan said they kept the hope for peace alive with stubbornness, persistence, and resistance, emphasizing that the Birecik Bridge they crossed united the two peoples. Orhan also drew attention to ecological destruction policies, saying, “Peace does not come with hydroelectric power plants, wind power plants, or solar power plants. Peace comes with the freedom of the sun.”
Birsen Orhan vowed that they would fight against the destruction of nature, stating, “You wanted to dominate nature. But you should know that we will always oppose these policies. We are marching for the recognition of the ‘Right to Hope’. The commission established in Parliament is delaying the process. We want the process to be accelerated. We appeal to political parties: Do not sacrifice the process to your political ambitions. Peace is above political interests. Peace can only be achieved through women’s struggle.”