Hundreds of women gathered Diyarbakır's İstasyon Square in a demonstration marking Women's Day.
In response to a call from the Free Women’s Movement (TJA) and the Diyarbakır Network for Combating Violence (DAKAP), women dressed in traditional outfits convened in the Ofis neighborhood and marched to the square, chanting slogans and carrying banners.
The demonstrators held placards with messages such as "With the liberation of women comes a free society. Jin, jiyan, azadî” and "We will rise up against the massacre of women. We will build freedom." Other signs read "Fascism fears the struggle of young women," "We have a lot to say, we do not obey," and "Where is Gülistan Doku?" referring to a young woman who has been missing since 2020.
The rally began with a moment of silence to honor women who lost their lives in the "struggle for freedom."
Following this, female members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, along with women mayors of Diyarbakır Municipality and its districts, were invited to the stage. This year’s celebrations marked the first time in eight years that the city was governed by elected mayors rather than government-appointed trustees.
‘We will not give up on honorable peace’
Diyarbakır Co-Mayor Serra Bucak emphasized that peace could be achieved through the call made by Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Öcalan on Feb 27 called on the militanr group to disarm, ending its four-decade armed insurgency.
“We, as women, are here to transform this call into a permanent and honorable peace and to welcome this spring together. We will collectively respond to this call for peace. We will defend honorable peace against war, and we will never give up on it,” Bucak said.
Kışanak: ‘Öcalan’s call is for all of us’
Gültan Kışanak, a prominent Kurdish politician who previously served as an MP and mayor of Diyarbakır and spent eight years in prison, also addressed the crowd.
“After eight years, I stand here with you once again. They kept us imprisoned as political hostages because they wanted to break the will of women," she said. "But you did not stop, you did not give up. You did not abandon the streets or the squares—you resisted. The passion for freedom and the struggle of women live in their hearts, and no four walls can imprison that spirit. As long as we stand together, those iron doors will open one by one, and our friends will regain their freedom. Together, we will dance the halay of freedom in this square."
Speaking about Öcalan’s imprisonment on İmralı Island, Kışanak stated that he had continuously thought about peace and a solution despite the conditions imposed on him.
“He has made a call to us. From Amed, we salute the call for ‘Peace and a Democratic Society.’ Are we ready to build bridges of peace from Amed to Ankara, to İmralı, and to every corner of Turkey? No one should misinterpret this call. It is a call directed at the state, the government, democratic politics, the peoples of the Middle East, and women—it is a call for all of us. We must all take responsibility. Peace and freedom cannot be achieved by merely waiting or wishing for them. We must weave them together, thread by thread,” she declared.
During Kışanak’s speech, the crowd frequently chanted “Jin, jiyan, azadî” (Women, life, freedom). The event continued with the reading of a message from Öcalan, sent for International Women's Day.
Full text of Öcalan's message
I am aware that you are living the human reality with all its nakedness in the land that made women. This state of life with you, whose fascinating value I have never given up, has probably been my basic life principle that has kept me alive. But for the first time, the glorious, free reality of Mesopotamia will be, and has been, at least another Mesopotamian first.
The issue of women's freedom retains all its importance. The democratic communalist process is an updated version of the main female sociality. Social reality can only be reached through this method. Unless the rape culture is overcome, social truth cannot be revealed in the fields of philosophy, science, aesthetics, ethics and religion. As Marxism proves, the success of socialism will not be possible unless the new era destroys the male-dominated culture embedded in the depths of society. Socialism is achieved through women's freedom. You cannot be a socialist without women's freedom. There is no socialism. You cannot go to socialism without democracy. My first test of socialism is to know how to talk to a woman. He who does not know how to talk to a woman cannot be a socialist. A man's socialism is related to the way he relates to a woman.
The sacredness belongs to the woman. Woman is the universe itself, man is a deviation from it, a deviated planet. It is the woman who first produces language to address the child. It is also the woman who produces culture. It is the woman who gives birth to society. Holiness and divinity belong to her. I have developed a four-tiered ideology of women's liberation for women. It is a theory. The main female culture, the age of the goddess, is between 10,000 and 4,000 BC. Monotheistic religions begin with Babylon. The Babylonian epic is the epic of the enslavement of women. The Babylonian creation epic is one of the cornerstones of Mesopotamian mythology. Between 4000-2000 BC, women's culture begins to lose women. After the main female culture was destroyed, the palace woman was born with the Mitanians. Nefertiti was also a palace woman. The palace woman in that period has been transformed into a housewife today. You know there is the Sati culture and tradition. In Sati culture, women are thrown into the fire and burned. The most practiced practice was in 1832. The British put an end to this culture.
Rebirth is important. Women should not be considered biologically, but socially, culturally and historically. As Simone De Beauvoir said, you are not born a woman, you become a woman. I am not against marriage and love, but horrible murders are committed every day in the name of love. Would someone kill the person they are in love with? This is not love. It is known; many women have committed suicide because of this relationship.
There is also the culture of free women. You are close to this culture now. Women are trying to transcend being a mother, being a wife. But you are still managing with 10 percent of the culture of freedom. The main thing is to fight the mentality. The male-dominated social structure creates many problems for women. There is violence, exploitation, incest, rape, girls are vulnerable to being killed. What are you going to do tomorrow when children are killed? This is what I mean by sati culture. You have to fight this culture, this mentality. You have such residues. You need to get rid of these sediments.
The issue of women is a deeper problem than the Kurdish problem. There is more of a women's problem than the Kurdish problem. We have only made a small beginning of this. The culture of war and conflict is primarily directed against women. To push back this culture to some extent is the dynamos of the struggle.
The spirit of the period is democratic politics and the language is the language of peace. The Call for Peace and Democratic Society is also a renaissance for women. I greet the women who believe in common life and heed my call with the updated and successful love of Mem û Zîn and Derweşê Evdî, and celebrate March 8, International Working Women's Day.
With continuous greetings and love.
Abdullah Öcalan
(ED/TY/VK)
