Kurdish Women Fighters
Considered a terrorist group by NATO due to the attacks in Turkish cities in reprisal to the oppression of the government of Turkey in the process of independence of the Kurds and creation of a state that aims to ratify cultural and political rights for the nation – about 20 million people – the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is also an ally of the Kurds in the fight against terrorism drawn up by the Islamic State (ISIS) and for the empowerment of women in the Middle East. That is why in the PKK guerrilla women are fighters and have been fighting side by side with men since 1978, not only by an autonomous state, but also against oppression of feminism and equal rights.
In this report, young Turkish women show their work and life routines, ready to fight and do their daily work, which includes not only gun training and physical training, but also the production of their own food with cultivated livelihoods by group and traditional manual rituals, with studies and music. During coexistence, rare in times of attacks, work is restricted to caves, which manage to accommodate dozens of combatants and means of subsistence for months. For supporters, especially for them, believing in ideals and wanting to contribute to the cause, as many family members have done in the past, are the main motivators to continue – even if admission requires total abdication of previous relationships. Others portray them as struggling for the freedom and independence of women and the Kurdish nation, and who find in the guerrilla an opportunity not only to fight but also for survival and intellectual development.