AMED - Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, in his message greeting the Peace Mothers conference, said: "Your identity as mothers, you must consciously struggle for the identity of the free woman." 

 

After 12 years, the Peace Mothers' Assembly is holding its 3rd conference with the slogan at ÇandAmed Congress and Culture Centre. In addition to the Peace Mothers, Free Women’s (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA), Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party provincial and district organisations and co-mayors, deputies, DEM Party Spokesperson Ayşegül Doğan, Democratic Regions Party (DBP) provincial and district organisations and non-governmental organisations attended the conference. 

 

In the hall where the 2-day conference will be held, posters of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, photographs of Peace Mothers who lost their lives and murdered women, as well as pennants were hung. A cinevision about the struggle of the Mothers was screened at the conference.

 

Afterwards, the message sent by Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan was read.

 

Abdullah Öcalan's message is as follows: “The most important things I learned from my mother were the truths of life, patience, and maintaining a correct and dignified stance.

 

I salute the Peace Mothers, who uphold this honourable and dignified stance, and I wish success for your conference.

 

Women should live as they wish, but they must have the courage to live freely. I have built my respect for women on the principle that ‘freedom must begin with thought.’

 

As Peace Mothers, you have always been at the forefront of protecting life and resisting oppression, and at the forefront of our struggle for freedom and peace. Your role in our resistance is unquestionable. Yet, I believe it is necessary to break the stereotypical images of women and motherhood imposed by traditional society. Alongside your identity as mothers, you must consciously struggle for the identity of the free woman. This region, which witnessed the first birth of a matriarchal society, is the same region that experienced the first social conflicts and problems.

 

The enslavement of women and the enslavement of society have always gone hand in hand. Contrary to popular belief, slavery began with the enslavement of women, not with the emergence of the state.

 

These social conflicts and problems have become the source of the issues we face today, and the way to overcome them is through building a communal and democratic life.

 

Our call for peace and democratic society, launched on February 27, places a great responsibility on the women's movement and the Peace Mothers, as a new phase has begun.

 

Building a socialist life based on the democratic communal system will only be possible through peace. On this basis, I salute all Peace Mothers and wish them success in their work."