Even though women did not participate in the August 15 action, they did serve as commanders in the guerrilla field. Besê Anuş was one of the firsts in this period, and Azime Demirtaş, Türkan Derin, Sakine Kırmızıtaş, Sultan Yavuz, Hanım Yaverkaya, Rahime Kahraman, Çiçek Selcan, Necla Çelik, Ayşe Öğretmen, Saime Turgut, Binevş Agal, Geyik Yetim and Gülnaz Karataş (Beritan) who lost her life in the 1992 war with the South followed her.

The struggle of the Kurdish women who have resisted the patriarchal system is of course not confined to the last 40 years. Although history did not note Kurdish women’s resistance, they did achieve great victories and heroisms in their time. The Kurdish Women’s Movement has 40 years of struggle in recent history. It has created its leaders in the struggle, and accumulated experience to build up from. It has been 33 years since the August 15 Initiative. Even though women did not participate in the August 15 initiative, they did command many units during that time. The women who were in the PKK with their identity as women and who lost their lives have had a deep effect on the Kurdish society.

The Kurdish women started to question the life under strict pressure of the patriarchal system and drifted towards a revolutionary search. The Kurdish women joined the PKK with the awareness of the nation and women issues and took their place in the very front of the struggle. The women displayed great resolve in resistance in places where they engaged in clashes, and they held on to their last bombs and bullets and used them on themselves to avoid being captured by the police and the soldiers. The Kurdish people have considered this resistance a source of honor and supported the resistance of the Kurdish women.

FIRST ORGANIZATION YJWK

Following the 3rd congress of the PKK held in 1986, the YJWK was founded in November 1987 under the ERNK, the frontline organization of the PKK. In 1993, the first steps towards a women’s army were taken with the formation of the first unique women’s units within the guerrilla forces. In 1995, during the 1st Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Congress, the union organization was founded under the name YAJK (Yekitiya Azadiye Jinen Kurdistan - Union of the Free Women of Kurdistan). With the founding of YAJK, the foundation principles for the social revolution led by women were determined with the Women’s Liberation Ideology on March 8, 1998. To put the Women’s Liberation Ideology to practice, the women’s party was founded on March 8, 1999 under the name Kurdistan Worker Women’s Party (PJKK). PJKK later changed its name and focused on expanding their perspective in organization and struggle. In line with that, the Kurdistan Women’s Liberation Movement took on a universal responsibility with organizing the Women’s Freedom Party (PJA) in 2000 and took care to share the Kurdish women’s experience with the women of other peoples. In 2004 with the PAJK (Partiya Azadiya Jin a Kurdistan), the women’s party organization expanded and took on the role of an umbrella party for the women’s forces in various areas of organization within the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

ORGANIZED IN LEGITIMATE DEFENSE AREAS

On April 20, 2005, with the Supreme Women’s Community that encompasses the four parts of Kurdistan and the women’s organization abroad, the confederal organization for women was founded with the umbrella organization. The KJB’s organization model included organizing legitimate defense zones, with ideological organization, mass organization and a strategy for democratic transformation. It icluds the PAJK (Partiya Azadiya Jin a Kurdistan - Kurdistan Women’s Liberation Party) in the ideological realm, the YJA (Yekitiya Jinen Azad - Free Women’s Unions) in the mass realm and the YJA Star and young women’s organizations in the legitimate defense realm.