The Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad, TJA) has launched a broad series of events under the slogan “It is women’s time, the time for freedom and for meeting with a free Abdullah Öcalan,” marking April 4, the birthday of Abdullah Öcalan. Women will be active in the field from 1 April to 19 April, and on April 4, they will set out from Amara with a thousand women for a march to Gemlik.
On April 19, women will gather in Gemlik to raise their voices for peace and freedom against war policies.
The program, which began on 1 April, includes tree planting, workshops, a festival, marches, a kite event and torchlit processions. Each city will organize its own activities and participate in the festival to be held in Amara on April 4. Following the festival, participants will march toward Amara village on the morning of April 4 together with the crowd gathered. After the events and speeches in Amara, women will set off for the large march to Gemlik.
Ruken Zeryam Işık Yıldız, a TJA activist, drew attention to these events and emphasized the importance of raising the demand for peace and freedom during this period. She said women are the driving force of this process and called on everyone to join the mobilization.
TJA activists spoke to ANF about the purpose and content of the campaign. Ruken Zeryam said that compared to previous years, demands are now being expressed more clearly. She said: “As reflected in the slogan, the physical freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan is now being demanded. As you know, the process has been underway for the past year. With this initiative, launched around democratic society and peace, and considering the actions and activities we as TJA have carried out over the past year, a clear message is now being put forward.”
We are in the field to ensure this process succeeds
Ruken Zeryam drew attention to developments in the region and said: “Looking at this initiative, it is clear that the level of crisis in the Middle East, Kurdistan and especially for women has reached a critical point. For this reason, the response that can provide an alternative is the initiative for peace and a democratic society. At this stage, as TJA, we are in the field with actions and activities, with the claim of being the owner and leading force of this initiative. Now is the time of women. Under women’s leadership, we will be in the field to realize this initiative and to ensure the physical freedom of Kurdish leader Mr. Öcalan.”
We will voice our demands for peace and freedom
Ruken Zeryam outlined the April 4 program and said the events will highlight the escalating regional war and the urgency of peace. She said: “The process will begin on April 1 and continue until April 19 with the march to Gemlik, which will also mark the final. There, we will clearly express our demands. Women are the ones who suffer the most within ongoing wars. We can say that women are the most marginalized, those whose will is not recognized and who bear the greatest losses. As women, we are the ones who need peace the most.”
Demands must be secured by law
Ruken Zeryam Işık stressed that legal steps must be taken without delay within the framework of the ongoing process. She said: “As Kurdish people, as women, as youth and as other communities, we want language, cultural and legal rights to be secured as soon as possible.
We say that the strongest guarantee for ensuring that this initiative maintains its seriousness and is not sidelined or dissolved as in previous processes lies in legal frameworks. For this reason, we reiterate that laws must be prepared in a comprehensive manner and that all rights and demands must be guaranteed.”
Activities will continue for days
TJA activist Nurten Üzümcü called on women to take part in the ongoing mobilization and spoke about the significance of April 4. Üzümcü said: “April 4 is the birthday of Abdullah Öcalan, and we see it as the birth of all women and all peoples. That is how we understand it and how we celebrate it. There are already great excitement and high morale among women. We are working intensively, both through activities in our local areas and for the festival to be held in Amara on April 4.”
People are embracing the process
Nurten Üzümcü drew attention to the growing ownership of the process. She said: “We have seen how the process launched on February 27 has been embraced both in the March 8 events and in Newroz squares. The coming together of these voices and this level of ownership is also a response to the slow pace and the fact that the process is not moving forward as desired. With these actions and events, we are saying that women will now be present in the squares in much greater numbers.”
Üzümcü concluded with a call: “All our efforts are aimed at ensuring that this process evolves into peace and that the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan is secured. From here, we want to renew our call to all people and women: we invite everyone to join the festival in Amara on April 4 and to take part in the march to Gemlik in support of the process and for physical freedom.”
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