Three years ago, the Taliban took power in Afghanistan. The Free Women's Movement (TJA) which is active in northern Kurdistan and Turkey, declared its solidarity with the women of Afghanistan to mark the anniversary.

‘Geographical circumstances change, but the policies of male-dominated regimes that reject freedom for women do not,’ emphasised TJA activists who took part in the solidarity action in Van. At the same time, they said, the determination of women to fight for freedom and against male domination is increasing worldwide.

A large number of women participated in the demonstration in front of the Peoples' Equality and Democratic Party (DEM Party) Van Provincial Organisation. DEM Party İpekyolu District Co-Chair Şevin Polat called for raising women's struggle, stating the following:

“For decades, Afghan women and girls have been confronted with war, systematic violence, hunger and imprisonment as a result of direct interference by male-dominated nation states. The misogynistic regime established by the Taliban since the 1990s was further institutionalised with the proclamation of Sharia law. The first targets were women and girls, who are considered pioneers of social freedom and organisation.

The Taliban regime in Afghanistan is waging a war against the people as a whole and against women in particular. It imprisons women in burqas, prohibits girls from getting an education, prevents access to health services and pushes women out of politics and the public sphere. While women were stoned to death for not behaving in accordance with Sharia law, girls who wanted to go to school were cauterised with acid. The male-dominated powers not only stood by and watched, but actually encouraged this sinister regime. The best response to the dark regimes fuelled by the male-dominated nation-states that ignore and usurp our most basic rights and want to imprison us in the cages they have built is, of course, to put on courage, resistance and women's consciousness. We know that no struggle that women do not touch, that their voices do not reach, can move forward and result in revolution.”

Şevin Polat called for increasing the organised struggle and said: ‘Our main responsibility towards the revolutionary women from whom we inherited the legacy of resistance, from Clara Zetkin to Meena Keshwar Kamal, from Sara to Arin Mîrxan, from Hevrîn Xelef to Evîn Goyî, is to increase our organisation and to raise the spirit of women's struggle spreading from Afghanistan to Kurdistan. As TJA, we defend and embrace the freedom struggle of the women of Afghanistan, whose will has been wanted to be usurped for more than 40 years, and we want it to be known that we are fed from the same root. Despite the borders imposed by nation-state fascism, we will continue to be side by side wherever our voice reaches, wherever our breath is enough, and to say ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’(Woman, Life, Freedom) together.”

The organisations participating in the demonstration are as follows: Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), Democratic Regions Party (DBP), DEM Party Women's Assembly members, STAR Women's Association, Human Rights Association (IHD) Women's Commission, KESK Women's Assembly, Association for Assistance and Solidarity with the Families of Prisoners and Convicts (TUHAY-DER), Association for Assistance and Solidarity with Those Who Lost Their Relatives in the Cradle of Civilisations (MEBYA-DER), Aryen Culture and Art Workshop, Language Culture and Art Research Association (ARSİSA).