“Freedom Readings” initiated by the Free Women's Movement (Tevgera Jinen Azad -TJA) continue. During the events, passages from PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan's books and evaluations are read. Citizens who participated in the workshops organized in Istanbul spoke about the content and importance of the workshop. 

 

DEM Party Sancaktepe Co-Chair Ayşe Çiftçi, who participated in the reading workshops, said that this was their third workshop and the participation was very good. Stating that they get morale, confidence and will from their women comrades in the struggle, Çiftçi said that the system does not want women's freedom, but with the paradigm created by Abdullah Öcalan, the women's freedom struggle has made a revolution and spread everywhere. 

 

Stating that the workshops raised their morale and motivation in a period when attacks and wars against Kurds increased, Çiftçi said that the workshops discussed the equality of men and women and raised awareness against the system that marginalizes women. Pointing out the importance of the workshop in terms of how to put forward a struggle, Çiftçi said that such workshops should be continued. 

 

Accountant Gülbahar Kurum (26) said that the workshop was very productive. Stating that enlightening articles were read about the war and isolation policies against the Kurdish people, Kurum said that the emphasis on how comradeship should be built in men-women relations was important. 

 

'CREATES AWARENESS IN MAN-WOMAN RELATIONS'

 

Metin Ömer, an instructor at a driving school who has participated in similar workshops before, stated that the reading they did on the concepts of organization and comradeship in these workshops, which are beneficial to society, was useful. 

 

Stating that the workshops are important in terms of developing ways and methods according to the philosophy of the ideas they defend politically, Ömer said: “Because all societies have to read to learn the thoughts and philosophy of the people they see as leaders in order to develop. Throughout history, no power has ever destroyed those who follow the path of leaders. In this sense, I see these studies as very valuable and I think they should be done more.” 

 

Stating that women are treated as second class in society, Ömer said: “Since we live in a patriarchal society, there is an abstention that we cannot overcome in man-woman relations. In our society, women are still seen as second class people. When we look at the conversations we have here, we realize that women and men have their own unique lives and that women are not objects in this life, they have their own originality, their own ideas and their own world. It is only through such readings and trainings that men can change the way they think about women and accept the principle of equality at a certain level. In this sense, I believe that these workshops raise awareness in men and women.”

 

WORKSHOP SUGGESTION FOR CHILDREN 

 

Emphasizing that men are not superior to women and that women have an important mission in society, Ömer stated that it is important that the workshops are mixed and that workshops for children are also needed. Ömer stated that not only the freedom movement but also other examples of struggle in world history should be discussed. 

 

'IT SHOULD START WITH THE FAMILY' 

 

Mehmet Bağırsak said: “With the process that developed in 2015, our readings decreased, our concentration decreased, and at the same time our morale and motivation deteriorated. This morale and motivation will be revived with these workshops. In this process, at the point brought about by these discussions, it is very important and very contributing that these workshops are organized on how people who have become more individualized and isolated, who have broken away from their own essence, can act as a community again, how they can move forward together.”  

 

Stating that it was the first time he participated in such a workshop and that it was very productive, Bağırsak continued his words as follows: “We understand from the readings that we need to start education from our own family first. We see at what point we have seen the equality between men and women in the family and at what level we have been able to maintain it. The traumas we have experienced in the family, from sitting down and eating together to our approach to women was first man and then woman. Therefore, if equality between men and women is to be realized, it must start at home.”

 

MA / Esra Solin Dal