The paradigm of the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK), which tried to organize and develop its quest to make social freedom viable, has been influenced by left and socialist thought streams. However, since its foundation, woman\u2019s freedom struggle has been expressed as a necessity. The belief that woman\u2019s freedom is the criterion for collective freedom is crucial for the concepts and structures of the PKK. From the PKK\u2019s conception, Sakine Cans\u0131z (who was assassinated together with Fidan Do\u011fan and Leyla \u015eaylemez in Paris on 9 January 2013) strived to ensure that an organization of women play a crucial role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At its third congress, PKK took the first step towards an independent women\u2019s organization. The core of Kurdistan Women\u2019s Liberation Struggle manifested itself with the first personality analyses. The analyses on personal levels revealed important data on how social reality influenced the formation of personality. The evaluation made by \u00d6calan at the 3rd Congress of the PKK, \u201cWhat is being analysed is the society, not the individual; it is the history, not the moment<\/em>\u201d is an important contribution to the system and conceptualisation of analyses for social transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first step of transformation of the freedom struggle that started turning individuals into an organized power was the foundation of the Kurdistan Patriotic Women\u2019s Union (Yekitiya Jin\u00ean Welatparez\u00ean Kurdistan, YJWK) in 1987. This organization challenged the construction of woman and family in historical conditions and initiated discussions on the problems of women\u2019s organizing. With the advent of the YJWK, the liberation of women came to the fore along with perspectives on national and class liberation. The first theoretical evaluations regarding the patriarchal exploitation of women were made in this process. These theoretical evaluations were contextualized and integrated into the social fabric and then compiled in \u00d6calan\u2019s book, \u2018Woman and the Family Issue in Kurdistan\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n YJWK, the first women\u2019s organization in Kurdistan, which developed with a revolutionary and libertarian character, played a crucial role in organizing and carried out important work during the period of 1987 till 1993. The achievements women have obtained and the transformations they have instigated through their struggle for freedom in this period has resulted in a unique set of views and theoretical framework regarding woman\u2019s liberation within the PKK. Breaking with the mental norms ofn society this theoretical framework quickly found response in practice. Further fundamental sociological changes took place in the PKK with the foundation of the women\u2019s army in 1993.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The empowerment and self-will that had been gained by the armed struggle found a response on an organizational ground through the continuation and comprehensiveness of YJWK. The woman’s army played an important role in the diversification of the experiences of the Kurdish women and was the source of new knowledge gained from these experiences. It generated a space in which women who wanted to get out of the spiral of capitalist modernity and patriarchy could do so. The basis of women\u2019s mass participation in the armed forces of the PKK was founded on women\u2019s decision to separate themselves from all kinds of hegemonic relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking up arms in the mountains to fight for the liberation of Kurdistan created very important experiences for women who wanted to counter all kinds of attacks of capitalist modernity. While Kurdish women fought for their existence against the nation state, they also fought a struggle for their existence against men on the front-line of the guerrilla. Therefore, the contradictory dispositions within the guerrilla revealed that the alliance between patriarchy, capitalism and state has leaked through all social cracks; thus it is not enough to solve the system through the perspective of class struggles and national liberation movements. It was made clear that women\u2019s liberation had to be developed by a profound analysis of the system at its core. At the same time women\u2019s need for alternative, autonomous organisational structures became obvious. The struggle of women against all kinds of marginalisation and discrimination challenged the social fabric constructed on the basis of power outside and inside the movement. In this process which was termed as the \u2018gender struggle\u2019 within the guerrilla ranks, women gained consciousness about self-defence against the implications of male dominance and against direct attacks. Most importantly, it was understood that women\u2019s freedom was not a matter that could be postponed after the solution of the Kurdish question. The necessity of struggling at all times against the dominant male approach constituted the everyday reality in the organisation of Kurdish women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a reason why women who are in search of freedom are flowing into the ranks of the guerrilla. They do so because they see the PKK as an organization that answers their needs. In this way, women started to escape urban cities where capitalist modernity set limits. At the same time a serious rise in political activism and search for freedom took place in a comprehensive manner. The experience and accumulation that emerged as a result of the experiences and actions of the women\u2019s army have laid the groundwork for advancing the women\u2019s freedom struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kurdistan Women\u2019s Freedom Union (Yekitiya Azadiya Jin\u00ean Kurdistan, YAJK) founded on 8 March 1995 has become another crucial step in the link between freedom and organization. Woman\u2019s autonomous organization was initiated in every domain of the struggle with the declaration of YAJK, which played an important role in achieving woman\u2019s potential in self-governance and politicisation. Its scope expanded in organizational terms from the mountains to the cities. The women\u2019s army led women to emerge as a form of will-power, and become a force in the struggle and battle for existence. The resisting women of the colonised people experienced in a social sense how they could express their will power when they became organized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The organization of YAJK and its results provided groundwork for Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s theory of \u2018killing the Dominant Man\u2019. The exploitative, hegemonic, power-crazed sides of men were being questioned. Also, it was defined that men also needed to free themselves from patriarchal patterns. The theory of \u2018Eternal Divorce\u2019, aiming to make the issue of freedom visible for both, woman and man, became an important step to enable both genders to become aware of their own reality. This conceptualization contributed to the awareness of women\u2019s power, and strengthened the process of empowerment through their life experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Women\u2019s Liberation Ideology, which was declared in 1998 and is still valid today, was opened to discussion as a theory. Moreover, it was not a narrow elite group that carried out these discussions. All men and women in PKK were included in this discussion process. The ideology of woman was conceptualized according to welatpar\u00eaz\u00ee<\/em> (meaning \u2018patriotism\u2019 \u2013 but the patriarchal and nationalist co-notation does not apply to the meaning of the Kurdish word; where \u2018welatpar\u00eaz\u00ee\u2019 literally means to \u2018protect the land\u2019), free thought and free will, being organized, consciousness of struggle, and the principles of ethics and aesthetics. These principles created new a foundation of life for the oldest colony \u2013 that of women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The basic principles of the Women\u2019s Liberation Ideology are welatpar\u00eaz\u00ee; living on the basis of free thoughts and a free will; self-organization; the determination to struggle, and ethics and aesthetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The principle of<\/em> Welatpar\u00eaz\u00ee<\/em><\/strong> is seen as the principle that links women\u2019s ideology to the land, production and culture. Against nationalism and colonisation, the love for one\u2019s land is brought to the fore. It is through this notion, the people have learnt, developed, and protected the fabric of their societies, their material and spiritual historical values. It is as a result of this that women were able to participate in society with free will and freedom of expression. It became apparent that the development of women\u2019s intellectual power cannot be dealt with only on the level of gender. It is through this princple that women are able to question and develop both their own struggle for emancipation and their national liberation movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The principle of Free Thought and Free Will<\/strong><\/em>is a notion developed to overcome the patriarchal control of women\u2019s minds. A woman who is deprived of her own will cannot be expected to play a determining role in overcoming a patriarchal society. Having free will is dependent on having knowledge, and hence, to obtain free will women first have to obtain self-knowledge and self-consciousness. In this regard, there is a strong link between being informed and having free will.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSummary of Women\u2019s Liberation Ideology\u2019s Concepts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n