YAJK: Kurdish Women Want Freedom

[kurd-l at burn.ucsd.edu]

From: Arm The Spirit <ats at etext.org>

Kurdish Women Want Freedom

Interview With Helin Ates Of The Free Women's Union Of Kurdistan (YAJK)

Could you tell us something about your recent conference?

	On March 8, 1995, the 1st National Women's Congress was held in 
Kurdistan. We centralized and gave structure to organized women's work. 
One of the decisions of this conference was to organize a women's 
conference in Europe in order to convey the results of the women's 
congress and to transform these into an organization. Around 130 
delegates took part in the YAJK conference in Europe. Most of these were 
YAJK activists, both other sympathizers took part as well. We broke 
through many taboos at this conference. We created a climate which 
allowed the closed, shy personality of women to be transformed into a one 
with more self-confidence, one which can express itself and its feelings. 
We had deep discussions about the correct way to solve the women's 
problem. We also discussed problems related to the organization of women. 
We also made urgent decisions which make the significance and urgency of 
this question clear.

What kind of decisions were made at the conference?

	As you know, the Kurdish people live in a primitive reality. We 
made decisions regarding education for women. We planned seminars, 
gatherings, and special educational events which will help politicize and 
socialize women, things which will take root in their daily lives. We 
also made decisions regarding the continuation of our joint activities 
with other women all around the world. Moreover, we made decisions 
related to the effects of the war, concerning sick and wounded people in 
Kurdistan, and against the spread of disease. Another decision dealt with 
our responsibility to implement all of the decisions of the Kurdistan 
Parliament in Exile among women. We also made preparations for 
stabilizing our organization and in general we have begun to take on our 
role as a revolutionary-militant vanguard.

Why did the women's organization change its name?

	In the past, it was not possible to centralize women's work. With 
the TAJK, we tried to create a basis for this. With the centralization of 
activities and the development of an organizational structure, we founded 
a military and political women's army. The highest organ of this 
organization is the women's congress. This year, during the 1st Women's 
Congress, we took on the name YAJK. Our branch in Europe also adopted the 
central decision and changed to the name YAJK.

Why did you, as women, form your own women's army?

	"Where there is equality, there can be no army." In any case, 
there are contradictions and inequalities. In Kurdistan, where these 
things are especially strong, armies are necessary to fight for equality. 
As women, we must for equality and freedom in all areas. The same is true 
in the army. It may seem crude, but the reality is that in a society 
where all the weapons are in the hands of the men, inequality will 
develop to the detriment of the women. There are other countries where 
women have fought in revolutionary armies but have failed to gain their 
freedom. In order to gain freedom, we need equality in all political, 
social, economic, and even military fields so that no room is left for 
oppression. That's why, in addition to the regular guerrilla army, we 
also began to organize independently. If we wish to achieve equality 
during the liberation and seizure of power, then we will have to do this 
with our own will, consciousness, and self-confidence. That is our goal, 
and we will firmly defend this in our praxis.

What are relationships between women and men in the family like today?

	There are very great contradictions within Kurdish families. The 
more the women become conscious and start to organize, the stronger they 
also begin to seek a new family life. The struggle has developed and this 
means that it is now spreading to all aspects of the society. Now, the 
women have something to say in the society and they no longer accept the 
old patriarchal ways, and the men have seen that domination over women no 
longer means that they themselves are free. These developments have 
pulled apart the reactionary family relationships and is forcing them to 
change. Of course, that doesn't mean that we have already achieved a free 
society. Social change has to take place over the long term. But our 
people, thanks to the presence of its vanguard, has made important 
progress in this area.

What does the women's organization think about love?

	As a people, we have been robbed of our love for centuries. 
That's even more true for the women. In their spiritual world, the women 
have been made blunt and deprived of their will. That which is sold under 
the name "love" today has nothing at all to do with what love really is. 
We reject and condemn this lie. Our struggle for women's liberation has 
as its goal to put a human character in the foreground once again, to 
connect this to our nation, to spread this in good faith, and to see it 
reach a universal dimension. We can see this today in the practical 
results of our struggle. We are changing the viewpoint of blinding 
orientalism and the old feelings by uniting love with the people and the 
revolution by means of free and equal will. This is how we analyze love 
between men and women. Couples must have an attitude which allows them to 
strengthen and develop one another. Our principle is a relationship in 
which the individual is freed from the domination of impulse and reaches 
a certain level of consciousness and strength. But sadly, this is not the 
case with families today. Relationships which come together quickly based 
on primitive influences and soon become a web of contradictions. The main 
reason for this is that such love is merely formal, developed on the 
basis of impulse without regard for human character. Such families 
quickly become trapped and fall apart. In such a family, neither the 
woman nor the man finds what they seek. We are convinced that we can 
eventually put love between both genders on its correct foundations on 
the basis of the type of social life which we are striving towards. In 
our society, there will be love for the homeland and for humanity. As 
long as this doesn't exist, there can't be a correct form of love between 
both genders. We don't reject love between genders, but neither do we 
accept relationships as they exist today under the current system.

Women are the people most affected by war. What does the women's 
organization do with regards to this?

	First we need to ask ourselves why it is that women are the ones 
most affected by war. Because the enemy tries out all the possible 
methods of its special war on women. The notion of honor manifests itself 
among the Kurdish people in the woman. The enemy sees the woman as the 
weak point in Kurdish society, so they torture and rape her. They use the 
woman as a means of blackmailing Kurdish society. This has negative 
social, psychological, and biological effects on women. That's why we 
seek to organize the masses of women against this and to reach a point 
where women can defend themselves and give them consciousness so as to 
weaken the special war in this respect.

The leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, recently made a new offer for a 
political solution in an interview with Reuters. What do you think of this?

	We support this, especially because woman are the group most 
affected by this war. We don't want people to die. The reason why we 
women are also waging an armed struggle today is because we want people, 
especially women, to have equality and to live free and independent 
lives. But the Turkish Republic doesn't seem to understand that concept. 
It does what its militarist and fascist character tells it to. That's so 
many people are suffering. That's why we aren't only happy to support a 
political solution, but rather we are also actively engaged in calling on 
the international public to do something towards this end.

----
During the 3rd Party Congress of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 
1986, the Union of Patriotic Women of Kurdistan (YJWK) was formed. During 
the Kurdistan National Women's Conference held from March 5-8, 1994, the 
name changed to the Free Women's Movement of Kurdistan (TAJK). Following 
the 5th Party Congress of the PKK, the 1st Women's Congress of Kurdistan 
was held. It was during this congress that the TAJK changed its name to 
the Free Women's Union of Kurdistan (YAJK). The YAJK is not only 
organized in Kurdistan, but also in Turkey, the Middle East, and Europe. 
Since 1992, an independent women's publication called 'Jina Serblind' has 
been published.
----

(Translated from Kurdistan Report #75, July/August 1995)