Kurdish women’s movement discussed in Paris

Bidard said: “The HDP is not only a Kurdish political party. In Turkey today, not only Kurds, but also many women, academics and journalists are on trial and in jails.”

The French Communist Party (PCF) and the Kurdish Women's Movement in France (TJK-F) met in Paris to discuss Kurdish politics and the Kurdish Women's Movement.

Hélène Bidard, the Deputy Mayor of Paris, also known for her work for women's rights, spoke at the meeting together with Kurdish Women's Movement Spokeswoman, Berivan Fırat.

The meeting included four women and activists from the Mouvement de la Paix (Peace Movement), Les Jeunes communistes (Young Communists) and people from the 12th and 14th Paris municipalities, who started a hunger strike against solitary confinement on Friday.

The meeting addressed many issues, including Kurdish women and struggles, hunger strikes led by HDP deputy Leyla Güven, Jineology Academies and Jinwar (the women’s village set up in Rojava).

At the same time Kurdish women politicians Sakine Cansız, Leyla Saylemez and Fidan Doğan who were murdered in 2013, were remembered.

The TJK-F spokeswoman, Berivan Fırat, spoke about the latest in Kurdish politics, Kurdish women and their struggles. She underlined that for years now lawyers and family have no access to Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Hélène Bidard said: "I cannot explain the struggle of Kurdish women, but what I can say is that it is an example for us.”

Referring to the struggle of three Kurdish women's revolutionaries murdered in Paris, Bidard noted that this massacre was not yet elucidated by the Paris courts, and that the judiciary was slow in this which is a genocide of women.

Referring to the HDP and its co-chair system, Bidard said that during her visit to the provinces of Kurdistan in 2015, she had the opportunity to observe the role of women in the HDP.

Bidard said: “The HDP is not only a Kurdish political party. In Turkey today, not only Kurds, but also many women, academics and journalists are on trial and in jails.”

Bidard, who describes herself as a feminist and communist, said that she supports and will visit the Kurds who are on hunger strike in Paris.