Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who announced his ‘Call for Peace and Democratic Society’ on 27 February, sent a message to women on 8 March.
Suzan Akipa, one of the lawyers of Asrin Law Office, read the message of Abdullah Öcalan at the rally held in Amed (Diyarbakır) to mark 8 March, International Women’s Day.

The message by #Abdullah Öcalan# reads as follows:

My basic principle is a full life with you!

I am aware that you are living the human reality with all its nakedness in the land that makes women what they are. This state of life with you, whose fascinating value I have never given up, has probably been my basic principle of life that keeps me alive. But for the first time, the glorious, free reality will be, and has actually been, at least another Mesopotamian first.

The issue of women's freedom retains all its importance. The democratic communalist process is an updated version of primeval women’s sociality. Social reality can only be reached through this method. Unless the rape culture is overcome, social reality cannot be revealed in the fields of philosophy, science, aesthetics, ethics and religion. As Marxism proves, the achievement of socialism will not be possible unless the new era destroys the male-dominated culture deeply embedded in society. Socialism can be achieved through women's liberation. One cannot be a socialist without women's freedom. There can be no socialism. One cannot go for socialism without democracy. My first test of socialism is to know how to talk to a woman. He who does not know how to talk to a woman cannot be a socialist. A man's socialism is related to the way he relates to a woman.

The sacredness belongs to the woman. Woman is the universe itself, while man is a deviation from it, a deviated planet. It is the woman who first produces language to address the child. It is also the woman who produces culture. It is the woman who gives birth to society. Holiness and divinity belong to her. I have developed a four-layered ideology of women's liberation for women. It is a theory. The primeval women’s culture, the age of the goddess, is between 10,000 and 4,000 BC. Monotheistic religions begin with Babylon. The Babylonian epic is the epic of women’s enslavement. The Babylonian creation epic is one of the cornerstones of Mesopotamian mythology. Women's culture, women started to lose between 4000-2000 BC. After the destruction of primeval women’s culture, the palace woman was born with the Mitanni. Nefertiti was also a palace woman. The palace woman in that era has been transformed into a woman of the house today. As you know, there is the Sati culture and tradition. In the Sati culture, women are thrown into the fire and burned. The most implemented practice was in 1832. The British put an end to this culture.

Rebirth is important. Women should not be considered biologically, but socially, culturally and historically. As Simone De Beauvoir said, you are not born a woman, you become a woman. I am not against marriage and love, but every day horrible murders are committed in the name of love. Would someone kill the person they are in love with? This is not love. It is known that many women have committed suicide because of this relationship.

There is also the culture of free women. You are close to this culture now. Women are trying to overcome being a mother, being a wife. But you are still managing with 10 percent of the culture of freedom. The main thing is to fight the mentality. The male-dominated social structure creates many problems for women. There is violence, exploitation, incest, rape, and girls are vulnerable to being killed. What are you going to do tomorrow when children are killed? This is what I mean by the Sati culture. You have to fight this culture, this mentality. You have such sediments. You need to free yourself from these sediments.

The women's issue is a deeper problem than the Kurdish question. There is more of a women's issue than the Kurdish question. We have only made a small beginning of this. The culture of war and conflict is primarily directed against women. To push back this culture to some extent is the dynamo of the struggle.

The spirit of the era is democratic politics, and its language is the language of peace. The ‘Call for Peace and Democratic Society’ is also a renaissance for women. With the updated and successful love of Mem û Zîn and Derweşê Evdî, I greet the women who believe in common life and heed my call, and I celebrate 8 March, International Working Women's Day.

With continuous greetings and love.

Abdullah Öcalan[1]