Gökkan: Women are fighting against the dictator

Free Women's Movement (TJA) spokesperson Ayşe Gökkan stated that women will take to the streets again on 25 November for a common life.

Emphasizing that women are always in a struggle against the male-dominated system, Ayşe Gökkan, Free Women's Movement (TJA) spokesperson, said: "25 November is the day of struggle and resistance against dictatorship for us. The TJA has not bowed to the male-dominated state and family, and has always struggled. We have been resisting against the rulers for 40 years."

Emphasizing that they are defending themselves against male-dominant forces under the YPJ roof in Rojava and as TJA in Bakur, Gökkan continued: "The power of self-defense has come to the front to counter this situation. Because during the Third World War, the male-dominant power spread in every part of Kurdistan. During the wars for self-government, women fought against ISIS in Sur, Cizre, Şırnak, Nusaybin and Gever. 70 percent of women in these regions did not leave, and the 30 percent of those who left were young women and children."

Stating that they launched a legitimate defense against the dictatorship, Gökkan added: "Our campaign started on 15 September and will continue uninterruptedly until 10 December. We have organised 4 workshops joined by 3,000 people on how to fight against the male-dominated mentality. "Legitimate defense is organization and education at the same time. We continued this campaign in many areas such as politics, organization, culture, economy and education."

Gökkan, noted that in Turkey, the AKP-MHP fascism carried out its misogynist policies in every area “as a strategy”.

Referring to the Istanbul Convention, Gökkan stated that the convention made important determinations about the sources of violence against women and that it has an important role in setting up preventive measures. "That is why the state wants to debate it again and thus legitimize violence against women. We will never submit to this and we will continue our resistance everywhere we are. On 25 November we will take to the streets again like the Mirabel Sisters to defend our rights."

Ayşe Gökkan said that the system wants to destroy all gains achieved by women, but that women will struggle to protect and increase these gains in every field, politically, culturally and socially. "We will take to the streets everywhere and shout out our demand for freedom. We will be in the areas with the slogan 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadi' and 'We defend ourselves against violence' against dictatorship."