Leader Ocalan sends message to Mothers of Peace Conference

The Mothers of Peace Council is holding its third conference at the ÇandAmed Cultural Center in the city of Amed, Northern Kurdistan, on October 18–19, under the slogan: "Mothers: Pioneers of Democratic Society and Lasting Peace", twelve years after its previous conference.

Leader Abdullah Ocalan sent the following message to the conference:

"The most important things I learned from my mother were the truths of life, patience, and maintaining a correct and dignified stance.

I salute the Mothers of Peace, who uphold this honorable and dignified stance, and I wish success for your conference.

Women should live as they wish, but they must have the courage to live freely. I have built my respect for women on the principle that ‘freedom must begin with thought.’

As Mothers of Peace, you have always been at the forefront of protecting life and resisting oppression, and at the forefront of our struggle for freedom and peace. Your role in our resistance is unquestionable. Yet, I believe it is necessary to break the stereotypical images of women and motherhood imposed by traditional society. Alongside your identity as mothers, you must consciously struggle for the identity of the free woman. This region, which witnessed the first birth of a matriarchal society, is the same region that experienced the first social conflicts and problems.

The enslavement of women and the enslavement of society have always gone hand in hand. Contrary to popular belief, slavery began with the enslavement of women, not with the emergence of the state.

These social conflicts and problems have become the source of the issues we face today, and the way to overcome them is through building a communal and democratic life.

Our call for peace and democratic society, launched on February 27, places a great responsibility on the women's movement and the Mothers of Peace, as a new phase has begun.

Building a socialist life based on the democratic communal system will only be possible through peace. On this basis, I salute all Mothers of Peace and wish them success in their work."

A-H

ANHA