The Democratic Regions Party (DBP) is organizing the “Democratic Economy and Economic Organization Workshop” at the ÇandAmed Congress Centre in Amed (Diyarbakır). The workshop is attended by DBP Co-Chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, Çetin Arkaş, co-mayors, representatives of civil society organizations and political parties, as well as many other participants.

 

Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar quoted Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan as saying: ‘In a universe where not even a single ant is left without work, how can a human being be unemployed?’ She continued: “This is a statement which explains that the economy is communal. Today, we are confronted with an economic system in which people are left hungry. The economy has no social dimension. Who determines the value of labor and the surplus product? This is what we need to discuss. We call on everyone to move beyond the intellectual boundaries imposed by the state. That is why we are here. We are expected to submit to the deep poverty imposed by Capitalist Modernity. We thank everyone who will join us on the journey toward a communal economy.”

 

Çetin Arkaş, a former fellow prisoner of Abdullah Öcalan and a member of the Imralı Secretariat, who was released on July 2025 after 33 years of imprisonment, drew attention to the “alarming data” regarding the growing rate of suicide, unemployment, poverty, drug use and prostitution in the Kurdish region, especially among young people, and called for establishment of solidarity networks to confront and overcome the multiple crises experienced by the Kurdish population.

 

Arkaş emphasized that the workshop should not remain merely an exchange of ideas, saying, “There must be a will to put these ideas into practice. A common organizational structure must be established. An urgent action plan should be developed together with all the dynamics of the city. We are all responsible for social decay and the current state of the economy. If we act with this awareness, we can all find solutions. By establishing employment offices, we can help people find jobs without favoritism. Our stance against destructive mining practices must be clear. Cities that become obese turn into F-type prisons. The Democratic Society and Peace Process is a process of reconstruction. Businesspeople and professional groups must take part in this process. They should act with social priorities at the forefront. Both intellectual and practical steps must be taken.”

 

Following the opening speeches, the workshop continued with a panel titled “Another Economy Is Possible: Democratic Communal Economy.” Moderated by writer Metin Yeğin, the session featured presentations by writer Yılmaz Atlığ on “Democratic Modernity as a Counter-Hegemonic Project,” academic Zehra Buylakutluyurga on “Women’s Communal Eco-Economy Against Patriarchal Capitalism and Industrialism,” and DEM Party MP Sezai Temelli on “A Local Participatory Economy Against Monopolies and Centralization.”

 

Moderator Metin Yeğin said, “In Spain, there is a structure known as the social economy. Two and a half million people work within it. People produce and create there. There is also the Mondragon Cooperative, whose annual turnover is 13 billion euros. We all build economies based on profit. What needs to be demonstrated is how much we can act together, how much the poor can benefit, and what kind of relationships can be established among people.”

 

Stating that the realization of Democratic Modernity is of great importance for the future of humanity, writer Yılmaz Atlığ said: “The system we call capitalism created mechanisms of coercion and operated them for a long time. By also securing consent, it developed an imperial expansion. It established itself in politics, culture, and many other fields. Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) has introduced a new universality, which he calls Democratic Modernity. Despite five thousand years of denial, this modernity is a call for a new democratic universality. NATO and Israel’s attacks… A revolutionary alternative must be developed against the global economy built upon plunder. Rojava is the place where humanity has put into practice the construction of Democratic Modernity as an alternative to Capitalist Modernity. Capitalist Modernity divides social reality, whereas Democratic Modernity unites it. It places women’s liberation at its core and links women’s freedom to the liberation of society. It stands against the hostility established between humanity and nature. Mr. Öcalan addresses this in his book Democratic Civilization. Development cannot be achieved unless the domination of Capitalist Modernity over knowledge is dismantled. It builds its system on nationalism, sexism, and religiosity. For this reason, the development and practical realization of the communal spirit are of vital importance. Through an organized economy, we can build a communal life and eliminate the destruction created by capitalism. Healthcare, education, heating, and housing should all have a public dimension. These are the minimum conditions for life, and we must put them into practice.”

 

Academic Zehra Buylakutluyurga stated: “When criticizing the system, it is necessary to understand what it is built upon and how it was constructed. The first economists were women. Once women’s connection to the economy was broken, the hell we see today emerged. During the transition from feudalism to capitalism, property was divided among men. Peasants had common lands where they grazed their sheep and cultivated fruit. The capitalist system destroyed these areas and forced people to migrate to the cities. The communal way of life of the peasants was damaged. The witch hunts of the Middle Ages were attacks on women’s production. The system perceived women’s productive capacity as a threat and acted accordingly. Today, women who refuse to submit to men are being killed, just like the three women murdered in Paris. The system seeks to control women through domination. Women and nature are exploited in the same way. This is carried out through patriarchal law. By strengthening our communal organization, we can struggle against this savage system. Councils where decisions are made collectively, the Paris Commune, and the experience of Rojava are models of struggle that should guide us. Kurdistan was, in fact, a region where people lived communally. This needs to be revived, much like the traditional collective labor practices in villages. One of the greatest forms of destruction created by capitalism is moral collapse. We need to discuss what we should do at this point. We must build a communal life based on fundamental needs. We can even begin this within the family. Society cannot be liberated unless women are liberated.”

 

Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party Group Deputy Chair Sezai Temelli said: “It is important to understand that capitalism is male. The women’s struggle occupies a crucial place in these processes. Every action we perform in the digital age contributes to surplus value. We can clearly see what kind of society the capitalist state envisions. The period from 1914 to 1945 was the era of fascist states. After 1945 came the golden age of capitalism. There is nothing human about it. In 1968, however, it encountered a crisis and sought to reproduce itself in new ways, increasingly through technology. Artificial intelligence is one example. These developments are digging humanity’s grave. A dangerous future awaits us in which the world will be concentrated in the hands of only a few people. What did the socialists do? Lenin politicized the economy. They attempted to direct a state shaped according to the bourgeois mindset, and real socialism collapsed. Mr. Öcalan’s paradigm presents a structure suited to the new form of social labor. He says, ‘Capitalism is the state.’ Capitalism functions through state organization. Therefore, we must distance ourselves from forms of the state. The communal sphere must become both a space of organization and a sphere of thought. The answer to surplus value lies in creating a new public sphere.”