The Democratic Union Party (PYD) was founded in northern Syria/Rojava in 2003. The party became one of the mainstays of the revolution in Rojava. The 19th anniversary of its founding is therefore celebrated in many places. An anniversary celebration took place in Berlin on Saturday. After a minute's silence for the martyrs and a speech by the PYD's co-chair, Salih Muslim, who was connected via Skype from Rojava, the co-chair of the Kurdish umbrella organization Fed-Kurd, Kerem Gök, took the floor.

Gök explained: "On the anniversary of the founding of the PYD, I congratulate Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan], the mothers of the martyrs and all the patriots who have dedicated themselves to the fight for freedom. As is well known, Rêber Apo developed the paradigm of an ecological, democratic, women-led society in the early 2000s. He developed this paradigm for all oppressed peoples, especially for the Kurdish people. In this context, the PYD was founded in Rojava and the PJAK in Rojhilat. As the Arab Spring began, it also became the Kurdish Spring with the Rojava Revolution. At that time, the Kurds were prepared because they were sufficiently organized and had enough institutions. The revolution took place under these conditions. The foundation stone for the revolution in Rojava was laid with the founding of the PYD.”

"The Rojava revolution will spread to East Kurdistan"

In his speech, Kerem Gök recalled Rêzan Cavid (Yûsif Rêbanî). Cavid was a founding member of the Eastern Kurdish Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) and co-chair of the Freedom and Democracy Movement (KODAR). On 6 August 2022, he was killed by a Turkish drone attack in Qamishlo while visiting Rojava. In this context, Gök underlined that the revolution will be carried from Rojava to Rojhilat. In memory of the Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini who was murdered by the Iranian moral police, Gök added that the revolution would be carried out under the leadership of women.

"The Rojava revolution is the work of thousands of martyrs"

The party’s co-chair Salih Muslim then spoke via Skype. He recalled the massacre in Qamishlo in 2004, in which the regime tried to smash the Kurdish resistance one year after the PYD was founded. Muslim explained that the PYD carried out intensive organizational work up to 2011 and thus prepared the revolution. "The Rojava revolution is the work of thousands of people who died," said the PYD co-chair and pointed to the isolation of the Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan: "It really is a shame for us. The representative of a people has been in total solitary confinement for years and there is no news of him. The isolation must be broken.”

After Muslim's speech, cultural contributions followed.