Arjin Nishtiman, the guerrilla of the Women's Defense Units (HPJ) in Eastern Kurdistan, spoke to ANF about the latest developments in Rojhilat (East) and Iran. Pointing out that the serhildan, which developed after the murder of Kurdish woman Jina Amini by Iranian state forces and led by women, should be understood well, Niştiman said: "Women from Rojhilat played a strategic role in this process and led the peoples in Iran."

Arjin Niştiman said that Jina Amini was murdered consciously and on purpose, and continued: “They took two things into account while carrying out this killing, the first is that Jina Amini was a woman and the other that she was a Kurd. But the murder backfired; both women and the Kurdish people stood up. Moreover, not only the people of Eastern Kurdistan, but all of Iran united and went into serhildan [uprising]. This emerging dynamism was seen as a danger to Iran's colonial system, which attacked the people mercilessly.”

Women have a strategic mission

Noting that self-defense is essential against the attacks of the fascist state, HPJ guerrilla Arjin Nishtiman said that all peoples in Iran should unite against attacks and massacres. Emphasizing that Iranian peoples can only fight against difficulties if they are strongly organized, Arjin Niştiman said that women play an important role in this regard.

Niştiman said that women have a strategic mission today as they have throughout history, and continued: “As Leader Apo [Abdullah Ocalan] said, society cannot be liberated without the liberation of women. Therefore, 'Jin, jiyan, azadi' is not just a slogan, it is an ideology and philosophy of free life. Since Leader Apo saw the dialectic between woman, life and freedom, he made this one of the most important principles of the freedom struggle. Today, the ideology expressed with this slogan in both Rojhilat and Iran forms the basis of the emerging serhildan.”

United around women’s liberation ideology

HPJ guerrilla Arjin Nishtiman, reiterated that a stronger and more common struggle must be waged for Serhildan to reach a result and made the following call: “Kurdish, Persian, Arab, Azeri and Baloch women should unite around the light of women's liberation ideology and advance on the path of freedom with this perspective. I call on the women of Rojhilat and Iran to step up the struggle, to use our right of self-defense and crown this serhildan with victory.”