The General Command of Women’s Defense Units (YPJ) published a statement marking November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Full text of the statement reads as follows:

“We welcome to the 58th anniversary of November 25 and gratefully salute in the person of the three revolutionary sisters all the women who strove, suffered losses and put up struggles in the journey towards the freedom of women and whose names went down in the history books with golden ink, and all their efforts. We repeat to all the women in the world the oath to pursue the values they have created.

Throughout history the struggle of the woman remained unstoppable. Women stood up against all sorts of tyranny and dictatorial systems, they gathered communities in manifold manners around them and offered resistance. The Mirabel sisters put up a historic struggle in the 1930s to bring the fascist and dictatorial system that had gripped their homeland and people, to an end. To protect their people and end the injustice and lawlessness, the three sisters decided to rise up and mounted a struggle against the ruling dictatorship. The hatred and loathing the ruling forces harboured towards the struggle of the three sisters reached such a brutal level that they had all those three revolutionary women raped and murdered with severe torture.

But this struggle of the three sisters breathed an enormous rage inside the hearts of the people and women and after a short time a great revolt made its way and the ruling dictatorship was overthrown. This invaluable struggle became in the course of time the struggle of all women in the world and that day was declared the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

In our days all women of the world do regard the 25th of November an anniversary dedicated to them, whereas they deliver against the injustice and imperiousness of the male mind. That struggle is not restricted to that day, but permeated in all fields and facets that life encompasses.

This is a reason for why the system of capitalism, that is run by the imperious male, reacted with an anger that matched the struggle in intensity. These attacks and abuses do share besides its physical character, a political grounded eagerness. It goes simultaneously that anytime women rise up by aquired awareness of self-defense and education, that the violence and attacks of the ruling system aggravates. Women get turned everywhere into victims of all sorts of oppressive commands and ideologies.

But it is the right of any woman to defend herself against these attacks as much as to organise, educate and form collective defense units for themselves. Hence the path of struggle that Kurdish women and from all over the world tread, is of historical proportions and immensely meaningful. It is a struggle that strives with women on the front for the creation of a society governed by morality, political thinking, freedom and peaceful decision making on issues regarding their own nation and for the entirety of humanity.

Today, also on the soil of our homeland, against Rojava and Northern Syria, extremely ugly attacks are carried out. These attacks are first and foremost targeting women. ISIS gang members and mercenaries of Turkey foster with these barbaric and brutal acts the greatest hostilities. But as can be witnessed throughout all of history, women never deferred to assaults and kept on mounting unprecedented resistance. This struggle can consolidate through a unity of mind and soul and through the notion of prioritizing legitimate self-defence. We keep up the struggle with these ideas and concepts and this is a historic task for us.

We, the Women's Defence Units (YPJ), stand up for this day holding this invaluable meaning and purpose. The task and responsibility that falls on our shoulders is to lift the struggle of the three Mirabel sisters and all revolutionary women through battle, life and aspiration. With these values build up by women we wrap ourselves proudly and highly determined in struggle and resistance to become the defence force for all the women. Once more we call on all women to render all days into November 25, to make them days of dignified struggle and resistance.

With this we commemorate in the person of the three Mirabel sisters all the revolutionary and fighting women and vow all women to realize a free future.”