Kongra Star, the Women’s Council of the PYD (Democratic Union Party) and the Women’s Council of Future Syria Party are holding a workshop in the northern Syrian city of Heseke to discuss the Treaty of Lausanne and the destruction it has caused on its hundredth anniversary.

The workshop at the meeting hall of the Syrian Democratic Council (MSD) is attended by around 60 women politicians and representatives of women’s institutions, including MSD Executive Council President Ilham Ehmed, YPJ (Women’s Defense Units) Spokesperson Roksan Mihemed, AANES (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria) Executive Council Co-President Bêrîvan Xalid and PYD Co-Chair Asya Abdullah. Women academics, researchers and activists from Lebanon, Iraq, South Africa, Jordan and Egypt are attending the workshop online.

During the ongoing workshop, which is held under the motto "With the strength and solidarity of women, we will defeat the policy of division and the genocide of Lausanne against the peoples", PYD Co-Chair Asya Abdullah spoke about the genocides in Mesopotamia and their effects on women.

Highlighting the importance of women strengthening their defence system, Abdullah said: "Women can confront the treaties concluded against the peoples of the Middle East by enhancing their struggle. Kurdistan has witnessed many struggles, but after the seventies, women strengthened their defense system against attacks, and the resistance reached its peak.”

"Through the struggle of women, we were able to gather with each other and become leaders, whether on the battle fronts or in society, under the slogan "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom),” she noted.

"We, the women's organisations, can build our system. Knowing how to protect ourselves is very important at this stage we are going through. If women are unable to protect themselves, they will end up massacred.”

Abdullah remarked that the development of the July 19 Revolution in Rojava and North-East Syria, which was called the women's revolution, came as a result of the efforts of women who fought ISIS. “So, strengthening the defence system is very important for a bright future,” she added.

Pointing to the Turkish state’s attacks against North-East Syria, Abdullah said that the Turkish occupation required everyone to confront the attacks.

The PYD Co-Chair concluded: “We need to strengthen our defence system in all areas of life in order to organise society and frustrate all agreements and treaties. We write our treaty with our own hands, an example of which is the Charter of Autonomous Administration, which we drafted ourselves, writing our history with our own hands."