'That mentality cannot interrupt us'
URFA (DİHA) - In the village of Mehser, along the border with Kobanê, thousands of women gathered to celebrate March 8, International Women's Day. Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair Selma Irmak, speaking before the assembled women, said that Kurdish women are writing history through their organized resistance.
The village, near Suruç in Urfa province, hosted the region-wide rally today, where Congress of Free Women (KJA) activist Ceylan Bağrıyanık read Abdullah Öcalan's March 8 message to Kurdish women in resistance. Suruç co-mayor Zuhal Ekmez welcomed the women and wished them a happy March 8. Kobanê Canton People's Assembly Co-Chair Ayşe Efendi greeted the people of Northern Kurdistan and thanked them for all their support for Kobanê. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Mülkiye Birtane also spoke. After Ceylan read the statement on behalf of Öcalan, receiving applause for several minutes, Selma Irmak took to the stage.
"There is no longer any meaning to the artificial borders between Kobanê and Suruç," she said. She denounced the fact that in the week of March 8, seven femicides have taken place in Turkey so far. "What will we do in the face of this? Arîn Mîrxan showed us the path we need to take, and Kader and Sibel kept it going for us," she said, mentioning women fighters who had died in the liberation struggle.
'Neither system nor male mentality cannot stand in front of us anymore'
She said that the women's struggle was a universal struggle, and that now the world knew Kurdish women's name thanks to their heroic resistance. As Kurdish women, they would be following Abdullah Öcalan until the end of their lives, she said. Irmak noted, "The society cannot be liberated until women are liberated. Neither the system nor the male mentality cannot stand in front of us anymore. Issue of women is an universal issue." She said that the PKK revolutionaries who self-immolated themselves decades before under the brutal conditions of the Diyarbakır prison had sent their message: "Resistance is life."
The rally ended with musical performances from Mesopotamia Culture Center artist Zelal Gökçe and the group Koma Arîn.
(cm/nt)
