Maryam Ibrahim, coordinator of the Women’s Office at the Zenobia Women’s Gathering in Raqqa, wrote a public letter to mark Abdullah Öcalan's birthday. In the letter she described how, as an Arabic woman struggling for freedom, she sees the impact that Abdullah Öcalan had on the reality of Arab women.

Ibrahim wrote: "In the past, we the Arab people were not familiar with the ideas and writings of Abdullah Öcalan, this was due to the dominant influence of the state’s mentality on all of our minds. Governments and international authorities tried to withhold his ideas from all people in order to maintain their dictatorial hegemony. If the people would start to understand the reality of the oppressive system due to the thought and writings of the leader Abdullah Öcalan, the state system and the system of Capitalist Modernity would collapse."

Ibrahim continued: "Today, knowledge of Öcalan’s ideas is more widespread, especially in North and East Syria. This, combined with our liberation from ISIS by the Syrian Democratic Forces, which was formed by people from all groups and sectors of Syrian society, meant that we discovered that there is no existence for us, no dignity for us, without the presence of the thought of the great leader Abdullah Öcalan. He established in our minds a new understanding of freedom and the meaning of humanity. Capitalist countries and regimes have worked to suppress the spread of the leader’s thought through control of the media and spreading of false rumors.

Today, with the birth of the Autonomous Administration and the implementation of the Democratic Nation project in North and East Syria, we are all participating in this project. We, as oppressed people, are certain that we have found what we were looking for. Abdullah Öcalan opened the way for us to live in freedom and dignity, to manage ourselves without submitting to any oppressive authority, and to live under a political umbrella that insures justice and equality."

Ibrahim added: "Moreover, with the birth of the leader Abdullah Öcalan and thus the development of his philosophy, the concept of the free woman was born, who before was enslaved and had been seen to have no value. Women’s existence was not recognized, but today she is the main building stone of this project. Her participation is visible in all fields of life, even politically and within the self-defense forces. Today, women see themselves as a free spirit that does not need to depend on anyone. Through the presence of the leader’s thought, woman was able to know her truth and the importance of her presence in life. No force in the world can exert any control over the revolution of the woman who was born from the spirit and thought of the leader Abdullah Öcalan.

The fourth of April has become the day of the birth of the free woman. For us Arab women, it has become the start of gaining a new mentality with which we protect ourselves from all forms of violence and discrimination against us as women. We also appeal to all countries of the world and human rights organizations to support us in demanding the freedom of the leader of humanity, Abdullah Öcalan. We demand his immediate release from Imrali. We must recognize that the birth of the leader Abdullah Öcalan is also the birth of love and peace.

Likewise, we must support him and refuse to stand idly by in the face of the hatred and injustice of the Turkish state and the other countries who continue to conspire against him. Our defeat of the most dangerous organization in the world, ISIS, gives us the greatest right to demand the freedom of our leader Abdullah Öcalan."