https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/activities/womens-alliance-for-kurdistan-iraq-and-syria/
NEWS BRIEFING February 2020
NEWS
- In a powerful speech at the EU parliament in Brussels, mother of slain female Syrian Kurdish politician demands trial of her daughter’s murderers
- KJK Coordination denounces the February conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan
- #TheLongMarch for the freedom of Öcalan and the Kurdish people begins alongside 1,400 internationalists
- Egregious violations continue against women in Turkish-occupied areas of Northern Syria despite international silence
- Renowned Turkish novelist Asli Erdoğan is acquitted of charges in “terror” trial
- Turkmen women reject Russian aid, demand an end to Turkish occupation
- Armenian woman now at the head of the Euphrates Region Administration
- Over 500 women gather to rise for change in Amed (Diyarbakir) despite Turkish police repression
- Hundreds of Iraqi women challenge al-Sadr’s call for segregation
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- For women of YPJ there is no other option, reflection of a Catalonian volunteer
- The U.S. should follow Belgium’s lead and end PKK terrorist designation
- Occupied Afrin: learning your home is now a torture chamber
- Assyrian women against the occupation: a report from Til Temir
- Öcalan in Rome: an Italian internationalist remembers
VIDEOS
- Women Defend Rojava participate in Madrid’s ‘Women’s Chain’ against women’s repression and sexual violence
- Women from across the state of Spain issue statement of solidarity to the Kurdish women, declaring Rojava “the country of women” (Spanish language)
- Yezidi girl abducted by ISIS in 2014 reunited with relatives in Kurdistan Region
- Over 1 million women march throughout Iraq against corruption
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NEWS
1. In a powerful speech at the EU parliament in Brussels, mother of slain female Syrian Kurdish politician demands trial of her daughter’s murderers
12 Feb 2020 | Wladimir van Wilgenburg, Kurdistan 24
Suad Mustafa, the mother of a Syrian Kurdish politician who was infamously killed by Turkish-backed groups in October, declares at the EU parliament in Brussels that she wants those responsible for her daughter’s murder to appear in front of an international court. Her daughter, Hevrin, was ambushed in her car on Oct 12, 2019.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/ab5ea6b0-02c6-4e08-a822-d0fd914a8b11
2. KJK Coordination denounces the February conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan
14 Feb 2020 | ANF News
The KJK Coordination denounced the international 15 February conspiracy against Abdullah Öcalan, stating that they will “never accept it” and that they consider the conspiracy “the biggest conspiracy developed in the history of humanity also against women’s liberation”.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/women/kjk-15-february-is-the-biggest-conspiracy-against-women-41598
3. #TheLongMarch for the freedom of Öcalan and the Kurdish people heads for Stasbourg
12 Feb 2020 | ANF News
120 internationalists from Latin America, Europe, Iran, South Africa, Canada and Australia join the fourth long march for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan organized by the “International Initiative Freedom for Öcalan”.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/march-for-the-freedom-of-Oecalan-and-the-kurdish-people-41557
4. Egregious violations occur against women in occupied areas despite international silence
9 Feb 2020 | Hawar News
Atrocities of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries are increasing day by day, in particular against the women. Despite these crimes, the international community still remains silent.
5. Renowned Turkish Novelist Asli Erdoğan Acquitted in “terror” trial
14 Feb 2020 | Middle East Eye
A Turkish court in Istanbul has dropped charges renowned novelist Asli Erdogan on charges of membership of an armed terror organization and spreading “terror propaganda”. Erdogan, whose books have been translated into many languages, was arrested alongside more than 20 other journalists and employees from the now-closed Ozgur Gundem, where she served as an advisory board member and columnist.
6. Turkmen women reject Russian aid, demand dismissing Turkish occupation
23 Jan 2020 | Hawar News
Turkmen women from the district of Surin, south of the city of Kobani, rejected the aid the Russian military police offered them, and demanded the removal of the Turkish occupation from their areas.
7. Armenian woman at the head of the Euphrates Region Administration
12 Feb 2020 | ANF News
The Executive Council of the Autonomous Administration in the Euphrates region in northern Syria has elected a new Executive Board. The new co-presidency with equal gender representation is formed by Armenian Lemis Abdullah and Kurdish Mihemed Şahin. from the Kurdish community.
8. Over 500 women gather to rise for change despite police repression
5 Feb 2020 | Emily Apple, The Canary
Despite intense police surveillance and repression, the Free Women’s Movement bring together over 500 in Bakur (North Kurdistan) to organize “against patriarchy, capitalism, nationalism and [the forces that] put pressure on women’s way of life.”
9. Hundreds of Iraqi women challenge al-Sadr’s call for segregation
14 Feb 2020 | Sofia Barbarani, Al Jazeera
Hundreds of women take the streets in response to Shia leader’s call for gender separation at anti-government rallies. Marchers changed, “Our voice is not shameful, it’s the key of the revolution,” and “Stop discrimination against women, stop gender segregation,” they chanted.
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. For women of YPJ there is no other option, reflection of an international volunteer
11 Feb 2020 Women Defend Rojava
An internationalist woman from Catalonia who joined the YPJ defence has published her reflections on the struggle in North and East Syria and calls upon international comrades to visit Rojava and see the revolution with their own eyes.
https://womendefendrojava.net/en/2020/02/11/young-women-of-ypj-no-other-option/
2. U.S. Should Follow Belgium’s Lead and End PKK Terrorist Designation
7 Feb 2020 | Michael Rubin, Washington Examiner
Former pentagon official and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Rubin reflects on the evolution of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), it’s political approach, and the blatant lies of the Turkish state, writing,“with Belgium taking a fresh look at the PKK, it is time for the United States also to reconsider the evidence that led to the PKK’s terror designation under U.S. law.”
3. Occupied Afrin: Learning Your Home is Now a Torture Chamber by Sinam Mohammed
12 Feb 2020 | Kurdistan 24
US Representative for the Syrian Democratic Council speaks on a personal level about her family’s plight in Afrin, “not as a politician but as a mother of four, and now a grandmother, who has lost everything”
4. Assyrian Women Against the Occupation: a Report form Til Temir
25 Jan 2020 | Lêgerîn Sterk , Komun Academy
A delegation of women from the Women Defend Rojava campaign traveled to the multicultural city of Til Temir to talk with Assyrian women about their experiences of and perspectives on the occupation.
https://komun-academy.com/2020/01/25/assyrian-women-against-the-occupation-a-report-from-til-temir/
5. Öcalan in Rome: An Italian internationalist remembers
14 Feb 2020 Chiara Mu | Komun Academy
Artist Chiara Mu remembers the atmosphere of Rome and when, 21 years ago, Abdullah Öcalan stayed in the city for a few weeks and thousands of Kurds came to the Italian capital and Piazza della Repubblica became “Piazza Ocalan”.
https://komun-academy.com/2020/02/11/ocalan-in-rome-an-italian-internationalist-remembers/
VIDEOS
1. Women Defend Rojava Participate in the Women’s Chain in Madrid
9 February 2020 | Rojava Azadi
Over 9,000 women formed the Women’s Chain in Madrid organized by the 8-M Assembly, Women’s Defense Rojava organized the “self-defense” block March for the freedom of Ocalan and the Kurdish people (Spanish language)
2. Women from across the state of Spain issue statement of solidarity to the Kurdish women, declaring Rojava “the country of women” (Spanish language)
30 Jan 2020 | Women Defend Rojava
https://womendefendrojava.net/en/2020/01/30/video-the-country-of-women/
3. Yezidi girl abducted by ISIS in 2014 reunited with relatives in Kurdistan Region
14 Feb 2020 | Kurdistan 24
Malek, an 11-year old Ezidi (Yezidi) was kidnapped six years ago by the Islamic State and lost her mother and brother in an airstrike. After 5 years living in Al Hol Camp, she was discovered and returned to her remaining family in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/20fc0602-2af7-487b-b30f-2e8d7d89fd0f
by family. (Photo: Kurdistan 24)
4. Over 1 million women march throughout Iraq against corruption
13 Feb 2020 | Middle East Eye
A million women marched today in Iraq as part of the ongoing protests against corruption in the country. The march came as a response against calls by prominent Shia cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr’s for protests to be segregated.
https://twitter.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1227926776321581056?s=20