Women's conference in Raqqa calls for freedom for Öcalan

The conference organized by women's organizations to demand the freedom of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan started in Raqqa.

Kurds and their friends are taking action worldwide on the occasion of 15 February, the anniversary of the international conspiracy against Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was abducted from Kenya on 15 February 1999 with the cooperation of international secret services. This act of piracy, contrary to international law, had begun with Öcalan's forced departure from Syria on 9 October 1998. The Kurdish community is taking the upcoming anniversary of his abduction as an opportunity to demand the release of the 74-year-old leader and a political solution to the Kurdish question.

Kongra Star and Zenubiya Women's Community are organizing a conference in Raqqa demanding the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.

The conference is taking place under the slogan "We will ensure the physical freedom of Leader Öcalan with the philosophy of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi".

Members of Kongra Star and Zenubiya Women's Community, the Syrian Women's Assembly, women's offices of the political parties in Raqqa, representatives of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, regional women's movements and organizations are attending the conference, as well as independent personalities, writers, poets, female doctors and many participants from Damascus, Homs, Hama and Latakia. Participants from Southern Kurdistan (Iraq) and Eastern Kurdistan (Iran) will attend via Zoom.

The conference will address topics such as the consequences of the international conspiracy against Öcalan and its effects on the current political situation, the crimes committed against the Kurdish leader in defiance of international norms and the steps taken for his physical freedom.

Speaking at the conference, Zelîxe Ebdi, Co-Chair of the Education and Training Committee of Raqqa Canton, said: "We are going through a historic process. Our resistance and struggle continue in order for the gains to be protected."

Zelîxe Ebdi warned that the Turkish state is more dangerous than ISIS and said, "The Turkish state has revealed its aim in the Middle East and committed massacres in the regions it occupied. Many countries recognised the massacres in Afrin, Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî".

Zelîxe Ebdi pointed out that the Turkish state will not achieve its goal and that the democratic nation project implemented in North-East Syria is a response to the occupation policies it pursues.

"In order to defeat the conspiracy, women need to unite their voices and fight together for the physical freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan," she said.

The conference continues with the speech of Hilala Zêrin Women's Cultural Movement member and poet Medya Silêman.