The people of western Kurdistan are shaping their future despite the regional and international siege they are subjected to. The region which has been a scene of exceptional developments in the last one year is now witnessing efforts to ensure the participation of women in all areas of life.

Women's organization Yekitiya Star has set up a sewing workshop for women in Kobani where the western Kurdistan revolution began on 19 July 2012. Fifty women are working in the workshop using 37 sewing machines.

The women in the workshop work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., practicing their works in some certain phases, the determination of the model, the preparation of dress patterns, the cutting of cloth with machines, forging and ironing.

The clothes produced here are supplied to the customer in Kobani bazaar. Directors of the workshop say they are doing a good job despite the war conditions and the economic collapse in the region, noting that they determine the prices according to the financial possibilities of the local people in the city.

Fatma Kalo in charge of the sewing workshop adds that they enable the cheap sale of the goods they buy expensively and sell after treating them in the workshop. She tells that they even sell some goods to poor people in return for a symbolic fare.

Kalo says that they have been continuing to meet their needs from the market where -she adds- prices of the goods they use in the workshop have recently tripled. The more women we employ, the bigger the workshop will become, she underlines.

The territory of western Kurdistan is not receiving humanitarian assistance from any country except for Kurds in other parts of Kurdistan. The UN aids that reach all parts in Syria are not reaching the Kurdish region in the country. The conflict environment going on in the country since March 2011 has lead to a remarkable economic collapse in the entire region. There are no employment opportunities in the Syrian country which is witnessing mass deaths every day.

The people here are shaping their future themselves especially because of the closure of the border gates and the blockade of roads by armed groups.

The Kurdish people in the region have not only formed their own army and police forces but also establishes courts, schools, education mechanisms, cooperatives, work units for women, language and police academies as well as a number of NGOs and people's councils in line with the co-presidency system.

The Kurdish organizations which are also working for the establishment of a local government are planing to form a local authority following an election to take place within this year. The organizations are also calling on all people in the region to take place in the new governance system.