YPJ established by sacrifices- legacy of women's liberation movement

The Women's Protection Units (YPJ) derives its will from the struggle and philosophy of the leader Abdullah Ocalan, who emphasized the need to establish an army for women in the face of the attacks of the authoritarian male mentality.

The units whose establishment was officially announced on April 4, 2013, that is, less than a year after the start of the July 19, 2012 revolution in Rojava, North and East Syria, and more than two years after the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in mid-March 2011, have developed the will of women who have been stripped of their identity and rights, and reinforced it.

The units led a great struggle and became a force on the battlefield against ISIS mercenaries and the Turkish occupation state. And it attracted all women around the world and became an icon in the resistance.

YPJ is a product of women's resistance and struggle

In this context, the leader of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ), Brittan Muhammad, stressed that the units play a major role, and introduce the identity of women in the world, until they become a destination for women.

"We faced very difficult days, and we spent days full of fighting and struggle, and what was achieved is the result of these struggles," said Brittan Muhammad, one of the first female leaders who participated in establishing the Women's Protection Units.

The leadership confirmed to ANHA’s agency that the gains achieved "did not come on a silver platter," adding, "These gains are the result of suffering, struggle, and years of steadfastness."

She explained, "We did not only sacrifice the martyrs and the wounded, but we also fought against the patriarchal fanatic mentality that was practiced against women as well, and we stood in its face with steadfastness and a solid will like steel, so it can be said that the Women's Protection Units, with their struggle and resistance, have reached this level."

She pointed out that the Women's Protection Units fought many battles, until the YPJ became known after its fight against ISIS mercenaries more, and it became at the forefront of the military scene in every confrontation with the mercenaries, and it fought and made great sacrifices in this regard.

The leader of the Women's Protection Units, Brittan Muhammad, pledged all the martyrs and martyrs of freedom to follow their path and protect women with their "guerrilla spirit."

'We will escalate our struggle and protect our revolution'

Shelan Tolhildan (April 4) described the anniversary of the founding of the Women's Protection Units as "a special day for us as a women's army that protects its society and its revolution." She said: "The epics shown by the fighters in the Kobani resistance inspired Europe and the whole world, and this inspiration was accompanied by familiarity with the women's revolution in Rojava." With time, we got to know Kurdish women in Europe, and through them we got to know the history of the Kurdish people, especially the Kurdish woman.”

Shelan referred to the resistance of the Kurdish woman, and said, "I fought the imperialist and capitalist forces that divided and colonized Kurdistan for hundreds of years, and the Kurdish women in this struggle had a prominent position, such as Randy Khan and Leyla Şaylemez, and this confirms that the spirit of struggle and resistance always exists within the Kurdish woman, and she was denied Including the European woman, this deprivation that came as a result of the capitalist system that emptied the content of her struggle, despite her achieving great gains in this regard.

She noted that they find the feminist struggle in Europe closed, saying: "Where women say in Europe, 'I have rights, I can vote, I wear what I want, but is this freedom? Is it a decent life and absolute freedom?”

And she continued in this regard, "For me, I do not think so, and here we must ask these women, to what degree do they find meaning in what they do, for the woman as an entity and for society at the same time? As a German woman, I have some rights, but there is an immigrant woman who is deprived of all her rights." The same geographical area, this is the mentality of the nation-state and liberalism.

At the end of her speech, Shelan confirmed, "We will escalate the struggle in the next stage, and renew the pledge to our martyrs, the last of whom is the martyr Shervan Kobani and his 8 friends, and we will protect our revolution against all attacks launched by capitalist regimes on societies, and women, especially the Turkish state."

The Women's Protection Units presented hundreds of martyrs and fighters who played a major role in protecting the goals of the July 19, 2012 revolution and the gains that were achieved with the blood of the martyrs.

YPJ Martyrs

Slava and Berivan, daughters of the occupied city of Afrin, were the first female fighters to join the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) to defend the land and women's rights and dignity, and they became the first martyrs of the YPJ (22 and 28 May 2013).

The commando approach also developed within the units. The fighter Arin Mirkan, with her commando operation that she carried out on October 5, 2014, changed the course of the war against ISIS mercenaries who were seeking to occupy Kobani, to the martyr Avista Khabour, who carried out a commando operation on January 27, 2018 against the Turkish occupation state. And its mercenaries in the village of Hammam in the Janders district of the occupied Afrin canton, Barin Kobani, Zahra Banaber, Vian Peyman, Ginda Ronahi, Arshin Tirbespiyê, Mezgin Botan, Sawsan Berhat, and Mezgin Kobani, Dillar Halab, Ronahi Kobani, Kobani, Jian Tolhildan, Roj Khabour, Barin Botan, and many others like them.

T/ Satt.

ANHA

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