Statement by the High Women’s Council:
To the public
On January 9, 2013, the co-founder of the PKK and leading figure of the Kurdish women’s movement, Sakine Cansiz, and our comrades Fidan Dogan (Rojbin) and Leyla Saylemez (Ronahi) were murdered in the French capital of Paris. Although a month has already passed, these murders are still not sufficiently resolved. The French state refrains from disclosing its findings to the public.
This approach suggests that the role of France and the Turkish state with regards to the murders in Paris is not to be sought outside of a common approach with the AKP government. As the women’s liberation movement of Kurdistan, we do not find it sufficient and do not accept that the investigation of this crime is limited to the arrest of one perpetrator or several perpetrators. Apart from arresting a suspect, the French government has issued no explanation of this crime within one month. In addition, the French government has issued no statement which informs the public about the evidence on suspect Ömer Güney, additional documents, witness testimonies, or video recordings. Concerning the resolution of the murders in Paris, France applies a manipulative policy of procrastination. The French state has the duty to immediately publish an official statement on the reasons and the background of these murders, which reveals the forces behind these murders and the relationships they possessed.
The delay of the resolution of the murders of the three Kurdish politicians is an attempt to normalize this crime and to let it be forgotten. At its core, this means a legitimization of genocide and feminicide. We call on all women, the Kurdish population and the public to be vigilant of this outrageous and hypocritical policy and to prevent the manipulation of the investigation with further actions. The dark politics of deep forces that seek to evade public scrutiny and threaten the existence of progressive forces must be brought to light. With common resistance and struggle, we will succeed at revealing the background and the connections of these murders. We are convinced that the activism of the Kurdish population, especially Kurdish women, as well as democratic forces around the globe will contribute to the investigation of this crime.
Borderless feminicide under the AKP rule
Under the rule of the AKP, the concept of Feminicide and the social destruction of all women in Turkey and all the peoples living in Turkey stepped into action. The prevailing patriarchal system based on capitalist profit motives continuously murders women with the hands, the language and the jurisdiction of the AKP government. The concept of feminicide is accompanied by a concept of destruction of societies and genocide. The sharp increase of violence against women and frequent murders of women in Turkey are part of this concept.
The murder of five Armenian women, the murder of three revolutionary Kurdish women in Paris, dozens of so-called honor killings due to divorce or declarations of intent by women; various acts of violence committed against women every hour, are all open expressions of this Feminicide. These attacks target women and, with them, the whole of society, nations, and cultures.
With the assassination of revolutionary Kurdish women, a genocide against the Kurdish people was announced, with the murder of Armenian women, a genocide to the Armenian people, and with the murder of women from Turkey, a genocide to all the people living there was announced. All women’s organizations, societies and nations must strengthen their fight against the fascist, misogynist attitude with which the AKP declared all “others” as their enemies.
Continuation of the AKP’s oppression and extermination concept in the prisons
In the past month, hundreds of Kurdish political prisoners were forcibly transferred to other prisons without any justifiable reason by the AKP State. These forced relocations genuinely resemble exile sentences. Oppression and torture in prisons were tightened further, human rights are trampled. With forced relocations, the AKP wants to take revenge on the Kurdish political prisoners for the success of their great hunger strike.1 We call on all people to stand in solidarity with the revolutionary prisoners, the forced relocations must be stopped, and the fundamental and human rights of the prisoners must be protected.
Continuation of the denial and extermination policies of the AKP in Western Kurdistan
The fascist attitude, according to which all that do not think along the lines of the AKP or want to become their henchmen must be eliminated, also occurs in the Syrian policy of the AKP and in the attacks on the population in Western Kurdistan. After the AKP regime was confronted with determined resistance of the population in the Western Kurdish city Serekanî, it intends to expand its genocidal policies over Western Kurdistan. The so far unsuccessful attacks of the AKP are directed against grassroots self-government systems in the Kurdish areas. But their attacks will not succeed in the future either. We call for solidarity with the people of West Kurdistan, who are fighting for their very existence and their right to self-determination. The AKP’s policy of genocide and illegal attacks on the population in West Kurdistan and Syria must not be tolerated.
High Women’s Council of the Kurdish Women’s Movement
KJB Coordination
February 7, 2013