ŞevinŞerwan-RuksenEfrin/JİNHA

QAMIŞLO - The YPJ fights so that all people and all women in the Middle East can live together in peace, according to YPJ Commander Evindar Deniz.

Since the revolution began in the Rojava autonomous region in Syria, Kurdish and other women have been organizing themselves under the rubric of the YPJ. The YPJ defense force both fights against the patriarchal gang of Daesh and aims to reorganize gender relations in society.

"If a people or a society has had its language, its culture, its lifestyle outlawed, because of the patriarchal mindset this is twice as effective for women," said Evindar. "To resist against this is our most fundamental right." Evindar noted that since the democratic, environmentalist and women's liberation-based perspective of the Rojava revolution has emerged, it has made an impact in other parts of Kurdistan (located within the borders of Iran, Iraq and Turkey), as well.

"In Rojava Kurdistan, after a certain period the people's rebellion against the existing system, based on a certain level of consciousness and the desire to live with their own language and culture, the serhildans [intifadas, uprisings] came to the fore," said Evindar. "This resistance was echoed in all four parts of Kurdistan."

Although the resistance may have started with Kurdish people in Rojava, other peoples had experienced the same repression from the Ba'ath system, said Evindar.

"Today in the area experiencing the Rojava revolution, the Kurdish, Assyrian, Syriac, Armenian and Arab peoples exist with their own autonomous belief and lifestyle systems and are administrative decision-makers in the Rojava cantons," said Evindar. The revolution has also provided a space for women to take leadership positions.

"The repression against society is also against women," said Evindar. "In the family and in society, women are repressed twice and divided. At this point there is an awakening in the face of what is being forced on them. Throughout the revolution, women have taken part in high numbers in society and in the military field."

Evindar said that one of the fundamental goals of the YPJ was to make a reality of the ideology of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

(rb/fk/cm)