The Roots of the Kurdish Women's Revolution

The Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), one of the most important secular socio-political movements of the Middle East, has addressed gender issues since its foundation in the late 1970s. However, the question of women's freedom acquired a central position after the 2000s, when the PKK underwent a deep ideological and structural transformation. A foundational tenet is "democratic confederalism", based on a democratic, ecological and gender-emancipatory system. For Abdullah Ocalan, the main leader of the PKK, democracy and freedom can only be achieved through the emancipation of women. Kurdish women have appropriated Ocalan's ideas and to a considerable extent, succeeded in promoting the empowerment of women and advancement of gender equality in the Kurdish societies directly influenced by the PKK: the diaspora and territories in Turkey and Syria. Although they still face a continuous and dual struggle against gender and ethnic oppression, Kurdish women have reached a high political status. As "guerrilleras", members of parliament, and human rights activists, they have disseminated the principles of gender equality throughout Kurdish society. In addition to adopting gender parity in all social, political and military Kurdish organizations, women established autonomous bodies within those organizations, which function through a strong transnational network from the battlefields in Kurdistan to the diaspora. Within this network, female activists in Europe play a central political role. They are the ones who are directly committed to gaining international political leverage, and with this aim the use of human rights conventions as a platform for dialogue constitutes an essential step forward. Furthermore, they play a major role in formulating Kurdish claims in universal terms backed up by human rights instruments.

THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY, 2021

The article explores the relationship between theory and practise in terms of gender-based equality and justice within both the armed units as well as the political-legal movement linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey and transnationally. An analysis of the historical developments of both political ideology and mobilization reveals the radical shift towards a stated commitment to gender-based equality that has taken place within a wider political transformation from a nationalist independence movement to a movement pursuing radical democracy. The article focuses on the dialectical relationship between the writings of the founder of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, and the struggle of Kurdish female militants and political activists to challenge male hegemony and patriarchal gender norms. We recognize the centrality of Öcalan's writings in the shift away from the emphasis on national liberation to the idea of radical democracy with gender equality at is centre. However, our main argument developed in the article is to recognize the importance of women's resistance and struggle to implement gender-based equality while we also highlight gaps between ideological pronouncements and everyday practises. Throughout the article we refer to Kurdish women fighters' and activists' personal experiences within the movement, which they themselves refer to as discrimination, forms of exclusion or marginalization.

Kurdish women’s battle continues against state and patriarchy, says first female co-mayor of Diyarbakir. Interview , 2016

The prominence of Kurdish women in Rojava (western Kurdistan/northern Syria) inspired us initially to understand the historical role of women in the Kurdish political movement. We were also interested in the role of Kurdish women in challenging traditional patriarchal society and rules. As part of this wider project, we wanted to hear the thoughts of Gültan Kışanak, the female co-mayor of Diyarbakır, the largest Kurdish city in southeastern Turkey.

This article seeks to show that high visibility and participation of women in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) is not just due to the requirements of mobilization for a total defensive war against ISIS. Rather, it is the culmination of a historical process within a wider and multifaceted freedom movement. After 1987, women from Rjava, were mobilized and participated in Kurdish straggle. They took significant steps after 2000 including the building of woman-specific organization within the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which was founded in 2003. In fact, what happened in the recent war with ISIS in Rojava, accelerated the realization of the ideas proposed by the imprisoned leader of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan, long before the start of the civil war in Syrian, drawing systematically from a continuous struggle that has been inspired by those ideas elsewhere in Kurdistan, especially in Bakur (Turkey's Kurdistan).

Anatoli, 2017

Starting with a brief discussion of the formation of the PKK, this articles argues that the PKK’s establishment, development and related «paradigm change» is a learning from defeat. I distinguish three moments of defeat in the history of the PKK. The first was the defeat of the revolutionary left in Turkey at the beginning of the 1970s, which shaped the process of group formation leading to the establishment of the PKK in 1978. The second was the military setbacks the PKK was confronted with from the beginning of the 1990s, which came together with and eventually resulted in the institutionalization of a women’s movement. The third was the capture and imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan in 1999. It was the second and third «defeats» that resulted in the recreation of the party’s «paradigm change». This took place in the broader context of an evaluation of another failure, that of real existing socialism and national liberation movements. This article furthermore discusses how the «paradigm change», the related change in ideology and practices were received in the party and how these were challenged and contested before becoming fixed at (as) its core.

The Cambridge History of the Kurds, 2021

The following paper aims to analyze the historical background of the current happenings such as the Kurdish endeavors towards independence and the strengthening of feminist thought, as well as cultural and political circumstances which put into motion a series of events that ultimately lead to a radical change in the political and social climate of the present day Syria. In the midst of a civil war, the Kurdish people seized the opportunity to fight for their own sovereignty in northern Syria, or as it is known by the Kurds – Rojava. Rooted in the strongly progressive idea of Democratic Confederalism designed by a Kurdish nationalist leader and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) founder Abdullah Öcalan, the Rojava Revolution is often deemed one of the greatest social experiments of our time. Even though the implementation of Democratic Confederalism may be in itself enough to highlight the importance of this revolution in the context of today's Middle East, what is of even greater significance is the blossoming of women's rights in Rojava. Another one of Öcalan's pivotal ideas, known as Jineology (the science of women) puts none other than women at the very center of the revolution. By observing the work of the all-female Women's Protection Units (YPJ) it is clearly evident that the aforementioned ideology manifests itself in practice, not only in the battlefield, but in everyday life as well. In this paper I will try to provide an overview of the historical circumstances that allowed for a spark that started the fire of the Women's Revolution within one of the most patriarchal societies and among one of the most repressed minorities in the world today and further examine the significance of the current situation in Rojava.

Mapping Nations, Locating Citizens: Interdisciplinary Discussions on Nationalism and Identity, 2017

While reflecting on nationhood and statelessness in the contemporary world, the case of the pro-Kurdish movement in Turkey needs to be reconsidered in light of recent evolutions. The 2014 and 2015 electoral successes of the legal pro-Kurdish party in Turkey show a double trend. On the one hand, the party progressively establishes an electoral hegemony within the mostly Kurdish-populated southeast; on the other hand, its popularity increases among the urban educated young Turkish voters. The current situation may therefore mark a step toward the acceptance of the party (seen in the past as ethno-nationalist) as a “Turkey’s party.” Within this evolution, the achievements of the pro-Kurdish women’s movement play a major role.