KJA – Congress of Free Women

Posts Tagged ‘KJA – Congress of Free Women’

Act in solidarity with women resisting in Kurdistan

Sunday, October 30th, 2016

Freedom For All Resisting Women In The Name of
AYLA AKAT ATA and GÜLTAN KIŞANAK

The attacks, detentions and arrests towards the people and their representatives as a part of the ongoing state violence in Kurdistan since July 2015 have reached its peak in the last 3 days. Gültan Kışanak, as the first Co-Mayor of Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality and resisted for two years against the tortures in Diyarbakir Prison during the military coup in 1980, was taken into custody on 25th October 2016; the municipality building was blockaded and raided by hundreds of police.

On 26th October 2016, the people who gathered in front of the municipality building to protect their will had been attacked with impunity via water cannons and teargas, and, many people were battered and detained.

During this attack, the women who resisted in front line are specifically targeted. As well as many of our women comrades have been detained, co-speaker of KJA, Ayla Akat Ata, has also been battered and detained, and, the advocate and family visit is prohibited for five days. (more…)

Tags: Diyarbakır, KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kurdish Struggle, Kurdistan, Raids, Repression, Turkey
Posted in Social Control

About the work and ideas of Kongreya Star, the Women’s Movement in Rojava (Kurdistan, Syria)

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

PDF: Kongreya Star

From the Committee for Diplomatic Relations of Kongra Star.

Kongreya Star is a confederation of women’s movements throughout the region of Rojava, a predominantly Kurdish area of northern Syria, also referred to as West-Kurdistan. While Kurds make up the majority of Rojava and most of the population is Muslim, the area is home to many different peoples, including Arabs, Assyrians and Ezidis, as well as a large Christian minority and many other smaller groups. One year after the Syrian Civil War began, Rojava declared its autonomy from both the Assad regime and the various other armed organisations active in the war.

The women’s movement in Rojava was founded in 2005 and originally called Yekîtiya Star. Under the fierce oppression of Bashar Al-Assad’s Ba’ath regime, women in towns and villages across the northern areas of Syria began to come together and organise themselves, creating a strong basis for the confederated women’s movement.

Tags: KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kongra Star, Kurdish Struggle, Kurdistan, PDF, Rojava, Syria
Posted in Library

Call for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan (Turkey)

Thursday, August 25th, 2016

From KJA – Congress of Free Women.

I CLAIM MY LEADERSHIP, MY LAND AND MY FREEDOM

On 15 August 2016, a military coup d’etat was attempted in Turkey. Within a few hours, heavy weaponry tank and plane attacks killed over 260 people and injured hundreds. State forces bombed many public institutions, including the parliament, and opened a helicopter fire over the civilian people. This chaos experienced, indeed, keeps repeating in Turkey since the formation of the nation-state over the course of past 200 years.

The denial of truths in society and the politics of annihilation executed by power holders present the root causes of his chaos. The denial and annihilation politics are experienced as wars, deaths, tortures, impoverishment, coups and fascism in the society. When the possibility of a life in freedom and dignity diminishes, resistances, conflicts, and wars culminate, where the resisting people have the final say in history. (more…)

Tags: Abdullah Ocalan, KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kurdish Struggle, Repression, Rojava, Syria, Turkey, War
Posted in Prison Struggle

Report on women freed from ISIS in the area of Minbiç and on the situation of refugees (Rojava, Syria)

Thursday, August 18th, 2016

For more than 2 months there is a hard war going on in the area of Minbiç. Minbiç is a very strategic for the control over Rojava; it connects Turkey with the headquarters of ISIS, Raqqa. This area is important for the protection of Rojava and the democratic autonomy in Rojava. To be able to create a federal Syria where people of all ethnicities and religions can live in peace together, the liberation of the area of Minbiç is very important. In Rojava since four years a system of democratic autonomy exists. This model is an alternative to wars and instability in the Middle East. It offers the opportunity that all people can live together based on equality, freedom of women, ecology and democracy.

It is a well-known secret that Turkey supports ISIS and will do anything not to lose control in this area. If the area of Minbiç is freed of ISIS, it will open the road to connect the three cantons, which is a nightmare and opposed to the politics and objectives of Turkey. ISIS and Turkey are not only connected by political and economic interests; they are quite close in ideology and practices as well. Because this area is so important for the control in the Middle-East all hegemonic powers are present in this war. There are conflicting interests between the hegemonic powers which impacts and intensifies this war. It is possible to conceive the war in Syria and in Kurdistan as a third world war, where it is the main aim to imply a new division in the Middle East. (more…)

Tags: Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kurdistan, Lions of Rojava, Minbic, Minbij, People's Defence Units (Y.P.G.), Raqqa, Repression, Rojava, Syria, Turkey, War, Women's Defense Units (YPJ)
Posted in Autonomy

KJA Report – Assaults on Women by the Turkish State in Kurdistan (PDF)

Saturday, August 6th, 2016

PDF: KJA Report – Assaults on Women by the Turkish State in Kurdistan

Dear friend,

We are writing to you as the Free Women’s Congress (KJA), the largest umbrella organization for the women in Kurdistan Region in Turkey. KJA brings together the women from political parties, local governments, civil society organisations, unions, media, academy, and local people’s assemblies and communes. Consisting of 501 women delegates, KJA represents women from diverse identity groups, ethnic, faith and cultural backgrounds.

Please find attached the reports prepared by KJA about the assaults on women by the Turkısh State in Kurdistan

Kind regards,

*Kongreya Jinên Azad, Komîsyon a Dîplomasî*
Free Women’s Congress, Diplomacy Commission
Özgür Kadın Kongresi, Diplomasi Komisyonu

Address: Diclekent Mah. 250 Sok. No:21,
Kayapınar, DİYARBAKIR, TURKEY
Phone: +90 412 237 77 75
*www.kongreyajinenazad.org *

Tags: KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kurdistan, PDF, Repression, Turkey
Posted in Library

Erbil: KRG Security forces raid and close the offices of the Kurdish Women’s Relation Office (Iraqi Kurdistan)

Tuesday, June 14th, 2016

Received from the Committee for Diplomatic Relations of Kongra Star:

To the press and public,
This morning at 9 a.m. the premises of the Kurdish Women’s Relation Office (REPAK) in Erbil – Iraqi Kurdistan was raided by General Asayish Security Forces. During the raid the ID’s and mobile phones of the staff including the chairwoman were seized so that they were not able to inform anybody. While the heavily armed Asayish [police] and Intelligence Forces did not state any reason or showed any documents, the premises of REPAK got closed and the staff expelled from the city.

Outside the borders of the city the three activists were released in the middle of the road, got back their mobiles and ID’s and were told that from now on they will not be able to enter the city anymore. This all happened in an arbitrary and lawless way.

REPAK was founded in March 2014 as legal NGO in Erbil. Main aim was to strengthen the ties and cooperation between different Kurdish women organisations. At the same time REPAK is cooperating with a high number of women’s, civil society and human rights organisations in Kurdistan and at international level to introduce the Kurdish women’s situation and struggle. Especially together with the attacks of IS in Southern/Iraqi Kurdistan REPAK became the main address for women’s delegations to visit Kurdistan and observe the situation and the struggle of Kurdish women. REPAK has participated dozens of international conferences and panels to share the situation of Yazidi Kurdish women captured by IS and the big resistance of Kurdish women that struggle for freedom. Moreover REPAK is part of a lot of international women’s organisations and structures as Middle Eastern coordinator, like the World Women’s Conference. (more…)

Tags: Aysel Avesta, Erbil, Iraq, KJA - Congress of Free Women, KÖM (Women’s Freedom Assembly), Kurdish Women’s Relation Office (REPAK), Kurdistan, Raids, Repression
Posted in Social Control

International Call for Women’s Solidarity on World Refugee Day, from the Platform for Struggle for Women Held Captive by Force (Middle East)

Monday, June 13th, 2016

Call for the Advancing and Increasing of the Visibility of Women’s Solidarity on 20th of June for World Refugee Day, from the Platform for Struggle for Women Held Captive by Force

Dear Women from all around the World;
We regard the sexist occupation practices of Daesh [ISIS], that is to say practices of systematic sexual torture, rape, enslavement, rendering odalisques, that codifies the women’s bodies as a patriarchal war and ownership zone, as a patriarchal imperialist attack against all women from all around the world.

In addition to this, we come across systematic rape and other forms of sexual violence as founding components of the genocide politics of Daesh against Yazidi people. Around 5000 women and girls, many of whom are Yazidis, who are kidnapped by Daesh as spoils of war are repeatedly sold at slave and odalisques markets and are held captive in a large geographical area that includes Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkey.
(more…)

Tags: Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), KJA - Congress of Free Women, Platform for Struggle for Women Held Captive by Force, Rojava, Syria, Turkey, War, World Refugee Day
Posted in Autonomy

Diyarbakir: Political attacks against women target the organization of women (Turkey)

Monday, April 18th, 2016

The centre of Free Women’s Congress (KJA) Association was raided anomalously by police on April 10, 2016, around 05:00 am. The Association was raided without any prior notification and in an unusual hour that none of the administrators were there. 16 politicians, including 6 women who are members, administrators and activists of KJA, were detained in the same time with similar illegal methods. Our 4 women members, Çimen Işık, Pero Dündar, Olcay Kanlıbaş and Zozan Toprak are imprisoned after they were judged in the court on April, 11.

The police raid is totally anomalous and targets to destroy generally the democratic organization as an essential element of democracy, and specifically the organization of women. While all of our computers were stolen in the raid, our archive was also taken by the police. This crime is tried to be covered up with a “confidentiality order”. Seizing all the computers means the cessation of the Association’s actions even it is possible to backup all of the documents and keep on our investigations. (more…)

Tags: Diyarbakır, KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kurdish Struggle, Raids, Repression, Turkey
Posted in Social Control

KJA – Congress of Free Women call for 8th March (Kurdistan)

Thursday, February 18th, 2016

PDF: 8 March Invitation

“We, women from KJA, will be commemorating the traditional İnternational
Women’s Day of Struggle and Solidarity with series of activities and action
between March 1st and 8th. Last year we organized various events and activities
in 240 different district and towns. With the growing resistance and struggle we
will commemorate 8th of March with even more enthusiasm.”

Tags: KJA - Congress of Free Women, Kurdistan, PDF, Rojava, Syria, Turkey
Posted in Autonomy

“We are on the side of Life, not Death”: Peace campaign from Women’s & LGBTI groups (Turkey)

Sunday, February 14th, 2016

PDF: We are on the Side of Life, not Death

“You may remember our international call for support and solidarity for this
campaign in mid-January, when we asked women’s and LGBTI groups and
individuals across the world to sign onto our petition in the midst of an
intensifying war in Turkey. As we stated back then, the resolution process
that was started in 2012 for a political solution to the Kurdish issue in
Turkey has come to a halt. For the past seven months, we have turned back
to war – with an ever-increasing level of violence. As of the 16th of
January, 2016, 20 districts of seven different provinces have suffered 57
curfews altogether, remaining under curfew for a total of 376 days.

Currently the sieges on Cizre and Silopi have reached 59 days, while the
Sur neighbourhood of Diyarbakır has been under siege for 71 days already.
In these seven months hundreds of people – civilians, guerilla fighters,
soldiers, police forces – have been killed or wounded.

In areas where clashes are intense and curfews have been declared due to
military operations, tens of thousands of people have been forced or left
no choice but to leave their homes, becoming migrants, i.e. internally
displaced persons. Those who have been unable to leave, or who have chosen
to remain in their homes, in their neighbourhoods despite intense attacks
by security forces have been declared ‘illegal’. Their lives are under dire
threat, and all their possessions suffer serious damage. Dozens of families
have been forced to take refuge in crowded basements due to military
bombings, with nothing to eat but a loaf of dry bread which they share.
Pregnant women have either given birth early or miscarried. Many people
have lost their lives, unable to reach hospitals due to sniper fire. The
bodies of those who are killed remain in the streets for days, as people
are not allowed by the state to claim their dead. Families are not given
the right to bury their loved ones. Only this week, the naked bodies of
women who have been killed in Cizre by state security forces have been
displayed. Only this week, more than 60 people have been massacred in three
separate basements in Cizre. Those wounded in one of these basements have
been there for weeks, calling for an ambulance….”