The special war policies carried out by the state in Kurdistan for many years have recently been intensified especially on women and youth. With the special war policies intensified in cultural, social and political areas, drugs, prostitution and spying are tried to be spread. Tevgera Jinên Azad (Free Women's Movement -TJA), on the other hand, aims to develop the struggle against this policy by organizing workshops and “Freedom Readings”. 

 

Speaking about the workshops and events organized in Wan (Van), TJA activist Gülistan Bozkurt stated that they are conducting awareness raising work by going door to door. 

 

STREET BY STREET WORK 

 

Bozkurt emphasized that TJA has carried out many activities against the isolation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the special war policies carried out in that context, and said that they have contacted a large section of society through workshops and readings. Bozkurt pointed out that they came together with women from city to city, neighborhood to neighborhood and street to street in order to conduct a study that would refute the special war policies. 

Stating that the special war policy is directed against Kurdish culture, art and language, Bozkurt said: “We are waging a joint struggle with our people against this. As a result of these workshops, we can see that our people are more conscious against the special war policies.” Underlining that the workshops have had positive results, Bozkurt said that progress has been made among young people and women, “The only weapon against these policies is organization and awareness. Consciousness is a front where we can protect ourselves.” 

 

'WE ARE FOLLOWING A PATH WITH ÖCALAN'S PERSPECTIVE'

 

Bozkurt emphasized that the main goal of the workshops and readings is self-defense, and underlined that self-defense can only develop through conscious organization. Before the World Peace Day, Bozkurt added that they had started “freedom readings” and emphasized that the readings are specific to isolation, democracy and women's freedom. Bozkurt said that isolation is especially emphasized in the readings, “We are following a path with the perspective of Mr. Öcalan and conveying his road map to our people against these oppressions against the Kurdish people. We go door to door to tell our people about peace and freedom, which is the only wish of Mr. Öcalan, and we raise awareness of our people at this point” she said.

 

CALL FOR ORGANIZATION

 

Bozkurt called on women to organize against massacres of women, harassment and rape and underlined that in order to make the women's struggle more visible, the identity of “woman” must first be defined. Stating that they will carry out their work in every field, Bozkurt said: “We will make every street a working area against the state mind and the male-dominated mentality. But we will do this by first recognizing ourselves and our identity.”