Women build their own system in Northern Syria

In preparation for their congress planned for August, conferences of the women's movement Kongreya Star are taking place in all the cities of Northern Syria.

The Northern Syrian women's movement Kongreya Star is preparing for its second annual congress in August. Regional conferences take place in all cities of northern Syria.

At a convention in February 2016, the existing Yekitiya Star was transformed into the umbrella organization Kongreya Star. Women's communes and councils were founded in many places across Northern Syria. Now the second congress of Kongreya Star is coming up. Regional conferences will discuss the current situation and evaluate the work to date.

The conference of Afrin Canton had to take place in the village Fafîn in the neighboring canton of Shehba due to the occupation by Turkish military and jihadist militias. In addition to 500 delegates from Afrin, guests from Aleppo, Kobanê and Shehba attended the conference.

Evîn Swet, spokeswoman for the women's movement, stated that the Afrin conference was supposed to take place in March, but had to be rescheduled due to the Turkish military invasion. "In preparation for our congress, we have already held dozens of meetings to discuss our own work and the situation of women in Northern Syria. We have also dealt with our organizational structures,"said Evin Swet.

"Of course, the Afrin conference was all about the situation of the women who had to leave Afrin. As women, we talk about how we can prepare ourselves against possible attacks of any kind in northern Syria. The spirit of Afrin’s 58-day resistance can still be felt in Shehba. Afrin can only be liberated if this spirit is preserved and we do not give up hope."