Women's Defense Units-YPJ fighter Zenobia Viyan who has been taking part in the war in Aleppo ongoing for 6 years spoke to ANF.

Viyan stated that there has been a great display of resistance despite the strict embargo and siege in Aleppo for 6 years and that women have been right at the center of this resistance with the lead of the YPJ.

Viyan said the peoples became aware of their own reality with the founding of the YPJ, that the women’s awareness increased particularly with the YPJ and added: “Until now, no organization in the Middle East, Rojava or the world in general had organized themselves around the women’s emancipation ideology. YPJ has organized precisely on this basis and put this into practice.

The YPJ didn’t think of women as just a factor that increases the struggle. Women are in the center of the struggle. YPJ has given this feeling to all women. Any struggle that doesn’t involve women is doomed to failure. YPJ acts with this awareness. All ugliness imposed upon women must be destroyed, and all values that belong to women must be rebuilt.

This is imperative for a free and democratic society. It is necessary for the building of a new life. And that is only possible through creating a strong defense system. That will be possible through joining the ranks of the YPJ, to grow the YPJ.”

“WE DIDN’T SURRENDER, WE ENHANCED THE RESISTANCE”

Viyan said that in the war, they marched towards the enemy with faith and will, in a completely ideological and sacrificing spirit, and that faith and will developed in YPJ fighters much stronger in the face of the dirty presence of the gangs.

YPJ fighter pointed out that what they are actually fighting is a system that has plagued humanity for millennia and that they fight the gangs with this awareness. She said Leader Apo’s ideology and philosophy of resistance is behind the resistance displayed by the YPJ in Sheikh Maqsoud.

Viyan said YPG and YPJ fighters displayed a great will and a great resistance to avoid a tragedy in Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood and continued:

“SNC gangs always waged an intense psychological war against the YPJ fighters. They wanted to break the will of YPJ fighters through practices like torture, massacres and beheadings. But our will as YPJ fighters wasn’t broken in the face of such practices. On the contrary, we held on tighter to the struggle. We didn’t surrender, we didn’t lose morale. We grew our wrath and enhanced our struggle.”

"SACRIFICE BROUGHT VICTORY"

Viyan pointed out that women took a greater part in every aspect of the resistance when compared with the past, and stressed that the Kurdish women achieved great success through great sacrifice and inspired the women of the world.

The YPJ fighter said women recreated themselves from their ashes, took the lead in society and added their own color to it, and continued: “The Kurdish women proved to the world that the Rojava Revolution is a women’s revolution through the legendary resistances in Shengal and Kobanê. There was also a great resistance in Sheikh Maqsoud, even though it wasn’t on the media as much.

Under the lead of YPJ, women fought ISIS and SNC gangs that attacked the unity and freedom values of the peoples, until the last drop of their blood. In the ranks of the YPJ, they fell martyr defending social values and women, in an unprecedented struggle.

The revolutionary war waged by the Kurdish women in Sheikh Maqsoud, Kobanê and Shengal had great impact on the world. The resistance displayed by the YPJ against ISIS and SNC gangs played an illuminating role for the freedom of all the women in the world, and inspired women’s struggles.”