Kurdistan Women’s Communities (KJK) Coordination member Esma Semsur stated that July 14 was a contemporary resistance defending its will in political arenas and gaining success. Semsur said that the same spirit was now resisting in Rojava, Kirkuk and Shengal, and Kurdish women owed their will to fight ISIS to this historical reality.

Semsur emphasized the role of free women embodied by Sakine Cansız (Sara) in the July 14 resistance, and recalled how comrade Sara fearlessly spit on the face of Esat Oktay. She described these resistances as the concrete forms of the PKK and women’s freedom movement.

’THEY WANTED TO PREVENT OUR DEVELOPMENT WITH THE SEPTEMBER 12 MILITARY INTERVENTION’

Speaking to ANF, KJK Coordination member Esma Semsur emphasized that the attacks of the September 12 military intervention aimed to prevent the development of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, which had been established in 1978 and developed significantly in a short period of time. Semsur recalled the intensive raids and arrests in Dersim, Elazığ, Urfa and Diyarbakır during the military intervention of September 12, and said that the goal of these attacks was to dissolve the movement at its beginning phase.

‘THEY WANTED TO END THE PKK THROUGH THE CADRES IN AMED PRISON’

Semsur emphasized the role of Sakine Cansız, who had resisted in Amed prison during the 1982 military intervention and lost her life in 2013 during the massacre in Paris, in the establishment of PKK resistance parameters and spirit. Semsur recalled that the goal of the intervention was to end the PKK and the Kurdish freedom consciousness through the cadres in Amed Prison, but Kurdish women’s resistance embodied by Sakine Cansız as well as the resistance of July 14 martyrs frustrated the goal of the intervention.

‘THEY UNCOVERED THE SPIRIT OF SELF-SACRIFICE’

Semsur emphasized that July 14 resistance was not only a resistance of individuals but also the uncovering of the spirit of self-sacrifice at the social level. Semsur recalled the intensive tortures Mehmet Hayri Durmuş, Kemal Pir and other comrades endured in 1982, and said that Kemal Pir responded to these methods with saying that he loved his party at the cost of his life. Semsur added that this resistance of self-sacrifice became the fundamental principle of the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

‘SAKİNE CANSIZ HAS A BIG ROLE IN THE RESISTANCE’

KJK Coordination member emphasized the role of free women embodied by Sakine Cansız (Sara) in the July 14 resistance, and recalled how comrade Sara fearlessly spit on the face of Esat Oktay. She described these resistances as the concrete form of the PKK and women’s freedom movement.

‘JULY 14 BECAME THE TRANSITION TO OUR GUERILLA STRUGGLE’

Semsur stated that the July 14 resistance became the transition to and the spirit of the PKK’s guerilla struggle, and said that the reports of Hayri Durmuş and Mazlum Doğan to Leader Apo set the grounds for the first PKK attack in 1984. Semsur emphasized the determining role of Kemal Pir, Mazlum Doğan, Sakine Cansız, Hayri Durmuş, Akif Yılmaz and Ali Çiçek in the creation of PKK spirit, and added that many fighters have joined the PKK due to the influence of their contribution to the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

‘THE GREATNESS OF THE RESISTANCE COMES FROM ITS HISTORY’

Semsur stated that the greatness of the Kurdish Freedom Resistance comes from its history and the July 14 resistance, and the spirit of this resistance could be found in Rojava, Kirkuk and Shengal today. Semsur added that Kurdish women owed their will to fight ISIS today to the historical reality of July 14, and called on Kurdish women to end the isolation of Leader Apo and bring the perpetrators of Paris massacre to account with the spirit of the July 14 resistance.