Women from all four parts of Kurdistan decided at a symposium in Amsterdam over the weekend to establish an initiative capable of taking action against the Turkish occupation. This is according to the final declaration published today of the event organized by the Kurdish Women's Movement in Europe (TJK-E) and the Women's Commission of the KNK (Kurdistan National Congress). The initiative will send a delegation from Europe to South Kurdistan to promote intra-Kurdish unity.

"Around two million Kurds are living in Europe due to the colonialism prevailing in Kurdistan, many of them under harsh conditions as refugees. European countries continue their relations with the occupiers in Kurdistan to gain trade advantages. All of these are sufficient reasons for Kurdish women in the diaspora to unite and make their voices heard," reads the symposium's closing statement.

"The Kurdish question is an international question"

The participants of the event accuse the EU states, the UN and other international organizations of complicity in the war against the Kurds because of their inaction in the face of the crimes of Turkey and Iran: "The EU states criminalize the Kurdish liberation movement through their terror list and want to give the Kurds a format that suits their own interests. The Kurdish question is also an international question in Europe. Therefore, Kurdish women living in Europe must form a political unity."

The Women's Initiative, which was launched, calls on the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) to stop attacking PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) guerrillas in the national interest and to stop supporting Turkey's occupation of Southern Kurdistan. The initiative also calls on all other Kurdish parties to oppose the occupation of Kurdistan in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. In order to create unity among Kurdish women, networking is planned with women artists, academics and politicians, as well as the families of martyrs.

"Kurdish women are neither Turks nor men"

On the expansionism of the Erdogan government, the final declaration states:

"The Turkish state considers the crisis in the Middle East as a good opportunity and pursues a strategy of occupation in this context. Weakening the governments in Syria and Iraq is in line with this strategy. Syria is to be occupied via Rojava and Iraq via South Kurdistan. The AKP/MHP regime imposes three criteria on society: Turkishness, masculinity and Sunni Islam of the Hanafi school of law. Anyone who does not conform to this ideology is considered an obstacle or eliminated directly. Kurdish women are neither Turks nor men. They belong to various religious communities, including the Yazidi and Alevi or Shafiite schools of law. For this reason, they are the center of attacks. The Turkish regime wants to spread these three criteria with its Turkish-Islamic synthesis through ISIS and the Taliban in the Middle East. This is prevented by the resistance in Kurdistan. The Kurdish resistance is led by women."