The period of the uprisings (serhildans), one of the most significant phases of the Kurdish people’s struggle, also marked a time when Kurdish women evolved into a force directing the resistance process. For Kurdish women, the era of being merely an instrument of a political party or working as members of a “women’s branch” within an institution came to an end; in its place began a period in which women organized the resistance and developed their own new ideology within the struggle.
The period that developed after the uprisings was one in which Kurdish women came to possess a life of their own. Going far beyond the idea of “a room of one’s own,” it became a time when Kurdish women began to show what a new form of life for humanity could look like.
Popular uprisings were the uprisings of women’s rebirth
Abdullah Öcalan observed that in Kurdistan the concept of family is closely associated with women, and that women were confined within the household, cut off from the street and from social life. With this analysis, the Kurdish Freedom Movement enabled Kurdish families to become involved in the revolutionary struggle and began to reap the results of this transformation by the mid-1990s. The formation of women’s military structures, the establishment of women’s institutions, and the transformation of women’s role within organizations meant that women were no longer treated as an “apparatus” or as a symbolic representation of equality.
The 1990s represented a significant period not only for the opening of Kurdish women’s institutions or the formation of women’s guerrilla forces, but also for the popular uprisings. The uprisings in Cizre, Diyarbakır (Amed), and Lice, as well as the uprisings during Newroz (the Kurdish New Year), and dozens of other uprisings became an important part of Kurdistan’s history while also playing a critical role in shaping the Freedom Movement.
What stood out most in these uprisings was that Kurdish women began to stand at the forefront of street protests. This period also paved the way for the first major mass mobilization of today’s Kurdish Women’s Movement. At the front lines were Kurdish mothers who, until then, had largely remained confined to their homes.
The struggle of Kurdish mothers
The history of Kurdish mothers’ struggle occupies a place significant enough to warrant dedicated research and examination, as it represents a practice without parallel in the history of world revolutions and in the global women’s movement.
The participation of Kurdish mothers in the resistance began with an act of self-immolation by a mother in Diyarbakır Prison and moved a step further in the 1990s as their own children took to the streets. In the face of the authorities’ repressive policies, mothers began to replace their children who had been detained, arrested, or killed. Today, they have their own distinct institutions and have reached a point where they make their own decisions, carry out their own actions, and speak in their own voices.
When Kurdish journalists were killed in the streets, Kurdish mothers picked up cameras and followed the news in their place; when Kurdish musicians were imprisoned, they sang stran (Kurdish songs) instead. Today, Kurdish mothers continue to organize and raise their voices through structures such as the Peace Mothers as well as organizations of prisoners’ mothers and families of the fallen. The Peace Mothers today occupy an important position whose influence is felt across Turkey and Kurdistan.
Abdullah Öcalan also addressed the efforts made in response to the family institution being shaped by colonialist thinking in opposition to the revolutionary struggle. Öcalan said: “The Party approaches the family institution scientifically. We want to correct the mistakes made in this regard and overcome the existing shortcomings. For fifteen years we have also struggled to eliminate the negative effects of this hearth (the family hearth). The cadre struggle of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is at the same time a rebellion against the reactionary characteristics, value judgments, and impositions of this institution. We are a revolt against this institution and its outdated values and false understanding of honor, which are at least as harmful as feudalism, fascism, and colonialism.
Great efforts have been made in this revolt, and these efforts are now moving toward success. In other words, the struggle is beginning to bear results. The culture and sanctity of the family are gradually giving way to patriotism and freedom. Every family now says: ‘If we are to raise children, it must be for the homeland and for freedom.’ They say: ‘At least one person from our family must join this struggle.’ This is not a simple development.”
Another indication of the value that Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK attached to Kurdish women was one of the most significant political moments of the 1990s: Leyla Zana’s Kurdish words during the oath ceremony in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the green, red, and yellow headband (Kesk û Sor û Zer) she wore.
Beginning with the prison resistance of Sakine Cansız in Diyarbakır Prison and continuing with Kurdish women who did not leave the streets during the uprisings of the early 1990s, the Kurdish freedom struggle that reminded women of their existence and directed them toward struggle produced one of its greatest achievements: one of the most important moments of resistance in the history of the Kurdish women’s movement. A Kurdish woman was declaring her existence, long denied, within the parliament of the Republic of Turkey.
A women’s movement with its own organizations and ideology
One of the most important turning points in the Kurdish struggle for political presence, which began with the People’s Labor Party (HEP), came during the period of the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP). In this period, the approach to women began to be formally reflected in the political party’s program. HADEP later became the first political party to implement the principle of positive discrimination, paving the way for women to become more visible and to have a stronger voice in every sphere of political struggle. This approach, which laid the first foundations of the co-chair system, now widely accepted and implemented in many parts of the world, also represented a stance that went beyond the classical understanding of the left within the movement itself. Moving far beyond the conventional notion that “a political party is established and then forms women’s branches and youth branches,” women in this process became decision-makers and guiding forces within the freedom struggle.
The 2000s marked a period in which the Kurdish women’s movement moved beyond its own sphere and reached a level that would leave a lasting mark on the global women’s movement. In particular, the science of Jineology, introduced by Abdullah Öcalan in the Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, was developed by women to a highly advanced level. Today, alongside the concept of the Sociology of Freedom, defined as a new social science, Jineology as a science of women has also reached a position of global recognition.
Not a single woman will remain unorganized
The breakthrough made by the Kurdish women’s movement in the mid-2000s took shape with the establishment of Free Women’s Congress (KJA). After launching its work in Kurdistan and Turkey with the decision that “not a single woman should remain unorganized,” KJA carried out numerous actions and events that drew wide attention. Among the most prominent was the campaign “Toward Freedom with Jin Jiyan Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom),” which today has become one of the central slogans and life philosophies of the global women’s movement.
Jin Jiyan Azadî, which emerged as a slogan of Jineology, the life philosophy of the Kurdish women’s movement, has now become one of the most important slogans of the global women’s movement. Women across the world have repeatedly chanted and embraced this slogan both in their own languages and in Kurdish.
For Kurdish women who had endured the great struggles of the 1990s, the 2000s were no longer merely a struggle for existence but a period of intervening in life through decision-making positions. In this period, the Kurdish women’s movement made significant advances not only through structures such as KJA, the Free Women’s Movement (TJA) established after its closure, and Women’s Assemblies, but also in the field of media. Taking a step that would set an example worldwide, Kurdish women established media organizations composed of women journalists.
In a field such as journalism, where male dominance has long been strongly felt, the development of a women-centered approach to journalism marked an important breakthrough. Although some of the agencies and newspapers that were established were later shut down, Kurdish women’s journalism has continued as a tradition in its own sphere. Beyond this, during the 2000s women began to establish their own institutions in every field and to speak in their own voices.
At the stage reached today, the Kurdish women’s struggle has come to guide not only Kurdish women but women across the world. Whether in the guerrilla movement or in political and cultural spheres of life, women are no longer merely speaking out; they are building a new life in the face of the pressures of both the system and male domination.
In Abdullah Öcalan’s words, becoming revolutionary depends on the nature of the relationship established with women. What the Kurdish women’s movement teaches today demonstrates what a revolutionary life and a new line of socialism should look like. As Öcalan put it: “One important reason many of you cannot fully become revolutionary lies in the relationships you establish with the reality of women. While developing emotions, the fundamental measures of resistance in relationships, or the basic principles of socialism, have been set aside. Relationships have been formed that lead to enslavement. You should know that a relationship with a woman that is prepared and presented to you is a trap. The enemy also uses this very well. This is one of the most important sources of exploitation and manipulation, and young men are particularly lax in this regard. That is why, within our party activities, we seek to develop this relationship as an example. It is an issue we deal with as seriously as we deal with colonialism.”
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