AMED – The Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA), announcing its programme to mark Abdullah Öcalan’s birthday, stated: “Starting on 1 April, we will be out on the streets, marching to Gemlik on 19 April. We will be in Riha (Urfa) on 4 April and in Gemlik on 19 April.”    

 

TJA issued a statement under the slogan “It is time for women, time to meet with freedom and a free leader” to mark the freedom and birthday of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan on 4 April. A large number of women attended the statement made at the Cemil Paşa Mansion. The Kurdish version of the statement was read by Dicle Tekik Erdem of the TJA, whilst the Turkish version was read by Ruçem Vefa Elyakut, Co-Chair of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) in Amed (Diyarbakır).  

 

The statement noted that “it is now time for freedom for Abdullah Öcalan”, adding that while women’s existence is commodified through the ongoing exploitation of their labour and bodies within the patriarchal capitalist system, Abdullah Öcalan’s analyses of women and the path he has outlined shed light on the women’s struggle.    

 

'TIME FOR FREEDOM FOR ABDULLAH ÖCALAN'  

 

The statement recalled Abdullah Öcalan’s words: “No social freedom movement that does not place women’s freedom at its centre can be a true revolution,” and emphasised that lasting peace cannot be achieved without securing Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom. The statement noted that the process of building a peaceful and democratic society, and the re-evaluation of Kurdish-Turkish relations—which have consistently generated conflict and crisis in the Middle East over the past two centuries—on the basis of equal citizenship, would only be possible through the establishment of a democratic republic.   

“The freedom of the People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan is also the freedom of the Kurdish people and the guarantee of an equal and free life for the peoples of the Middle East,” it was stated.   

 

'WE WILL BE IN AMARA ON 4 APRIL AND IN GEMLİK ON 19 APRIL'   

 

In the statement, which noted that no solution can be found to either the Kurdish issue or the war in the Middle East without securing Abdullah Öcalan’s physical freedom, the following remarks were made: “Now is the time to reunite with the free Leader; now is the time for women. To mark the birthday of the Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, we will be in Urfa on 4 April and in Gemlik on 19 April. Starting on 1 April and continuing with a march to Gemlik on 19 April, we will be in the streets under the slogan ‘Now is the time for women and the freedom of Leader Apo’.”  

 

The statement concluded with the slogans “Jin, jiyan, azadî (Women, life, freedom)” and “Bê Serok jiyan nabe (No life without the Leader)”.