Cenî pays tribute to Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez

Cenî paid tribute to Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez and said that the liberation of women and the liberation of life are inseparable.

The Kurdish Women's Office for Peace - Cenî paid tribute to Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez on the 11th anniversary of the murders in Paris. 

Cenî said in a statement: "There is no liberation of life and no liberation of women as long as patriarchal and reactionary forces and states continue their wars at the expense of oppressed peoples and civilians and cause suffering, hunger, displacement and trauma in society."

The statement continued: "On 9 January 2013, eleven years ago, a hit man from the Turkish Secret Service murdered the three Kurdish revolutionaries, Sakine Cansız (Sara), Fidan Doğan (Rojbîn) and Leyla Şaylemez (Ronahî), in Paris. The killings, which we describe as a triple state femicide, made it clear to us once again that the Turkish state is waging a special war against revolutionary women. Women who offer the most determined resistance against capitalism, against fascism and against nationalism. Through her murder, not only the achievements and successes of the revolutionary Kurdish women's movement were attacked, but also the entire Kurdish society and fighting women around the world, with the aim of breaking their spirit of resistance."

The statement added: "The resistance and protests that Kurdish women have tirelessly carried out since then have grown stronger and larger. We have shouted the slogan 'Jin Jiyan Azadî' at all memorial protests for our comrades Sara, Rojbîn and Ronahî for ten years. With the murder of the Kurdish woman, Jîna Amini, by the Iranian morality police, this slogan went around the world again. She not only reminds us of the women who were murdered by state femicides. She reminds us that the liberation of women and the liberation of life are inseparable and belong together.

The liberation of life means resistance against all kinds of state violence, occupation and war. Because these have a particularly devastating effect on women and all oppressed peoples. In its campaign of extermination against Kurds, the Turkish state specifically attacks women - whether political prisoners, activists, fighters or politicians. The wars of aggression in Rojava and military operations by the Turkish state are specifically aimed at leading figures in the Kurdish women's movement. At the same time, as in every conflict and every war, women bear the brunt of suffering. The rise of patriarchal, fascist groups such as the Islamic State (IS), but also state oppression and repression, increases the risk of femicide, patriarchal and sexual violence."

The statement underlined that "in Palestine, too, we have been witnessing the Israeli army's bloody war in Gaza for months. State violence and settler-colonial occupation by Israel have been going on for decades. The suffering of the Palestinian population has reached a peak in recent months. War crimes are being committed in front of the whole world. Within a very short period of time, over 20,000 civilians were killed in Gaza, most of them particularly vulnerable people such as children and the elderly.

Islamist reactionary groups like Hamas do not end this suffering and can never find a way out of the crisis. As women fighting for peace and liberation, we stand with the peoples who are oppressed and resist, and with the women who suffer most from these wars and patriarchal violence. Whether in Kurdistan or in Palestine – the way out of the crisis must go hand in hand with the liberation of all the oppressed and with the liberation of women. This also applies to current conflicts and crises such as in Iran, Sudan or Afghanistan."

The statement said: "Our comrades Sara, Rojbîn and Ronahî exemplified a revolutionary alternative. They dedicated their lives to the liberation struggle and to building a democratic alternative for the Middle East in which women and minorities can be free, live in peace and participate in political life. They symbolized 'Jin Jiyan Azadî' and thus the fight against capitalism and patriarchy and all systems and ideologies that subjugate people.

There is no way out of the crisis without women's liberation - our goal is the liberation of life and the entire society. We will uphold this promise in memory of our comrades. Long live international revolutionary women's solidarity! Jin Jiyan Azadi!"