Thousands of women have gathered today at the borderline to mark the 25 November International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The women have dedicated their march to the women resisting and fighting in Kobanê.

This year’s day of international struggle and solidarity for Elimination of Violence against Women has been dedicated to the women in Kobanê and Sinjar because of the brutal assaults of ISIS on these towns, that are specifically targeting women.

Free Women’s Democratic Movement (DÖKH) had called on days before all the women to join the march at the border under the slogan “We are Mirabel and Sakine, we are Arin in Kobanê, and Kader against the borders”. Answering the call of DÖKH, thousands of women have started to gather at the border as of this morning and marched from Dewşen village to Mehser village, which has become the centre of the border resistance.

Women from all over North Kurdistan had already started to flock to the border yesterday evening. The arrivals, getting intensified in the morning, continued until noon today. The women first gathered in Mehser and joined the human chain traditionally formed each morning since the beginning of the demos at Kobanê border.

The women then departed for Dewsen village where they were welcomed by a large group of women from Kobanê unfurling the flags of DÖKH, HPG, PKK and YPG as well as the posters of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. The women also carried placards which read “We are all Arin in Kobanê, We are all Kader against the borders”; “Our labors, bodies, identities are ours”, “Women, Life, Freedom” and banners with the pictures of children from Sinjar.

The women waited the start of the march at the Dewsen village by singing songs of resistance from Kobanê and Rojava as well as dancing the traditional Kurdish halay.

Mothers of the Roboski victims massacred by Turkish airstrikes also joined the march. Many women from Kobanê who are staying in the tent cities in Suruç also took their part in the demo, holding posters of Abdullah Öcalan and the flags of YPG and YPJ they themselves prepared. Women and children painted their faces in yellow, red and green, the traditional colours of the Kurdish people.

The march organised by DÖKH was participated by members of the HDP and DBP women’s assemblies, women from Kobanê, from Europe, from ESP, KESK, universities, and feminists as well as co-chair of DTK, Selma Irmak, HDP Amed deputy Nursel Aydoğan, Van deputy Aysel Tuğluk, DTK Executive Committee member Feleknas Uca and former deputy of YNK, Nermin Osman.

The women then marched from the village of Dewşen to the village of Mehser chanting slogans like “Long Live the Resistance of YPG/YPJ”, “Kobanê will be a grave for ISIS”, “Murderer state will give account”, “Women, Life, Freedom”, “Our struggle continue from Roboski to Kobanê”, “We rebel against the violence and war, We are organised and strong”, “We greet Kobanê resistance in the name of Zilan and Arin”.

The women also held posters of Arin Mirkan, who has sacrificed her life in Kobanê and the Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan during the march.

The two villages, Dewşen and Mehşer, where the resistance vigil has been held for 72 days, have become unified through the massive march of women, eliminating the distances.

The women have greeted all the women killed in different times; the women fighters of HPG and YPG who have fallen in freedom struggle; Arin Mirkan,who sacrificed her life in Kobanê; Kader Ortakaya who was shot dead by the Turkish soldiers at Kobanê border; Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, the three Kurdish women assassinated in Paris.

The march of the women, who all become unified for the women of Sinjar and Kobanê exposed to brutal violence and assaults of ISIS, has reached Mehşer village. Here, a big rally is taking place by speeches and performances of songs.