NEWS CENTER – Members of the Free Women's Movement (TJA) emphasized the significance of women leading the recent weapon-burning ceremony in Şikefta Casenê, saying, “We must unite and fight through organization without letting patriarchal mindsets or states divide us.”

 

In a historic ceremony held in Sulaymaniyah, Federal Kurdistan Region, 30 PKK guerrillas — 15 women and 15 men — destroyed their weapons, marking another concrete step in the peace process initiated by Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. The ceremony was led by KCK Executive Council co-chair Bese Hozat and was seen as a symbolic affirmation of women’s central role in building a democratic society.

 

A POLITICAL SHIFT LED BY WOMEN

 

TJA members Güliz Kaya and Zeynep Çelik said Öcalan’s first video message in 26 years had a powerful impact on the public. Kaya stated that the Kurdish freedom movement has entered a new phase and emphasized the need for a new political modernity based on equality and co-existence. "From now on, the struggle must move forward on a political ground," she said.

 

Highlighting the equal gender composition of the disarmament group, Kaya said: "Fifteen women and fifteen men participated, and the ceremony was led by Bese Hozat. This demonstrates to the world once again that our movement is a women’s movement."

 

‘LET’S OWN THIS PROCESS TOGETHER’

 

Güliz Kaya called for legislative reforms to advance the peace process and encouraged all political parties in the Turkish Parliament to act with courage. “We trust ourselves and our movement. Peace, freedom, and justice are necessary for everyone, and therefore, this process must be collectively owned,” she said.

 

‘WOMEN ARE THE BUILDERS OF PEACE’

 

Zeynep Çelik highlighted that women and children have suffered the most from war, poverty, and violence in Kurdistan. “Women lose loved ones in every war, a child, a partner, a father. In any peace created through this process, women will be the greatest beneficiaries, and the builders,” she said.

 

Stressing that women will take responsibility for advancing the peace process, Zeynep Çelik added: “We are organizing street by street, village by village, engaging women in discussions about self-awareness. We must strip ourselves of the identities imposed by centuries of patriarchal rule and create new spaces where women can define themselves outside of male-dominated norms.”