The Women's Press Union (YRJ) in North-East Syria issued a written statement on the occasion of the 4th founding anniversary of the organisation.

The statement called on women journalists to be the voice of truth and strive to reveal the truth.

The YRJ statement on Friday includes the following:

"On the 4th anniversary of the establishment of the Women's Press Union, we congratulate all women journalists, truth seekers and free press labourers.

In Kurdistan and around the world, women journalists are using their pens and cameras to expose the truths and atrocities against women and society. They are making this reality known to the world, and at the same time, they are telling about the heroism and leadership of the women fighters up to this point. The nation-state system today considers special war policies such as plunder, genocide, killing, separatism, occupation and violation of rights as the way of its existence. One-handed ruling creates racism and tension in society. This also leads to crises, wars and conflicts. The basis of all wars is the destruction of the democratic foundations of society. Today, free journalists fight against all kinds of oppression and bring the truth to the fore.

The Third World War started on the basis of sexism. This fact brings the war in Kurdistan, the Middle East and the world to the forefront. Women and children pay the heaviest price. All institutions of power turn a woman's body into a commodity and destroy her spirit and existence. The organisation of women and society with the consciousness of free women against the nation-state system will put an end to this distillation and ensure its success. Against this authority, the free press can be a fortress against the male consciousness that violates the values of today's society. This reality is clearly visible in Kurdistan.

The free women's press was organised on the path of Gurbetelli Ersöz and Sakine and became a place where the truth was brought forward and the struggle was raised. The free woman faces a tough struggle and becomes a strong position of truth against the brutality of the sexist system.

With the spark of the Rojava-Northern and Eastern Syria revolution, women also joined the ranks of the struggle. One of these ranks was the free press. Women wanted to be their own colour and voice by organising in this field. Without backing down, they led the revolution for freedom with their pens and cameras. Agirî Yılmaz, Eylül Nûhilat, Nujiyan Erhan, Dîlişan İbiş, Deniz Fırat, Dilovan Gever fought to the end to reveal the truth against ISIS atrocities and the occupation of the Turkish state, and became a symbol of diligence, dedication and commitment. The letter those journalists and fighters wrote to us women journalists is a call that makes us proud. This was their goal and hope.

Based on this call, we, as women journalists in Northern and Eastern Syria, declared ourselves as the YRJ, Women's Press Union, on 28 June 2020. On the 4th anniversary of the establishment of the YRJ, we promise to continue the search for truth. We will strengthen our struggle against all kinds of sexist, occupying and brutal systems that destroy society, nature and history. We will reveal the truth against all kinds of perceptions. The Women's Press Union takes the freedom of women and people as the basis of its success and works in this way. As women journalists, we will strengthen our pens and cameras against all the pressure and difficulties we face. We will maximise the colour and voice of free women's language against sexist language.

On this day, we congratulate the great pursuer of the truth, Leader Apo [Abdullah Öcalan], and the journalists who pursue and uncover the truth and those who are currently in prison. We call on all women to strengthen the system of self-defence and organisation. We invite all women to raise this sacred line of resistance. A free and democratic society can only be established by revealing the truth. To this end, women journalists, in the first place, need to be the voice of this truth and fight for it to be revealed."