Jelpke: Kurdish women in the vanguard in the Middle East

Jelpke: Kurdish women in the vanguard in the Middle East

ANF - ESSEN25.10.2014 12:00:00

German Left Party MP, Ulla Jelpke, speaking at a seminar on “the Women’s Revolution in Rojava” organised in Essen, in Germany, said that Rojava was taking shape based on the struggle of Kurdish women.

The seminar on the Women’s Revolution in Rojava was organised by Socialist Women (LISA) and the Peace Bureau of Kurdish Woman (CENI) in Essen. The seminar was attended by Left Party MP Ulla Jelpke, an executive of CENI, Ayten Kaplan, and the Left Party co-president of the NRW province, Özlem Alev Demirel. Ulla Jelpke spoke first, saying that Kurdish woman are making serious progress in Rojava. Jelpke added: “I have been going to Kurdistan for 35 years. Since the beginning of history, the Kurdish people have faced massacres. However, today, the Kurdish women are in the vanguard of a new system in Rojava. This is the level that the Kurdish woman have reached. I was in Rojava last summer. I saw the development of Kurdish women with my own eyes. They have the same rights as men. They are in struggle together. The women of the YPJ have became the symbol of the world.”

Özlem Alev Demirel also stated that Kurdish women are leading the revolution in Rojava. She added: “the struggle that the Kurdish women have been carrying on in Rojava is also a women’s struggle. The women of the world should follow the example of Kurdish women.”

Ayten Kaplan said that Kurdish women had pushed open the door of freedom. She added: “Today, Kurdish women are protecting their homeland and their freedom. This is the struggle they are waging.”