JINHA

NEWS CENTER –The last two days have been full of meetings and announcements of women's preparations for March 8, International Women's Day, in Kurdistan. In Derik, Êlih, Wan, and Mêrdîn, women and Congress of Free Women (KJA) activists announced to make this March 8 bigger than ever.

In regions near Nusaybin, where the international World March of Women will kick off their fourth international action on March 8, women discussed their plans to bring thousands to the kickoff.

In the Derik region of Mêrdîn (Turkish name Mardin) province, the KJA is taking the lead in the March 8 preparations. A meeting in the neighborhood of Qubilmê (Turkish name Beşbudak), where dozens of women gathered in a tent set up originally to gather condolences for those fallen in struggle, was just the latest of the March 8 preparation meetings taking place in the villages and neighborhoods of the Derik region, near Nusaybin.

Kurdish women would stand together against all politics of repression and exploitation, said sociologist HediyeGüneş, who works in the Peljîn Women's Center operated by the Derik municipal government.

"It's time to show the world the organized power of Kurdish women," said Hediye, saying the women of Derik would be out in force in Nusaybin.Peljîn Women's Center Coordinator GülserenYüzal said that all women should be out in the streets against rape, harassment and violence against women.

In Êlih (Turkish name Batman), the KJA is preparing for thousands of women to come to a March 2 rally and to take the streets on March 8.

KJA women activists in Êlih are holding women's meetings with neighborhood people's parliaments, planning activities and urging women to (in the words of Municipal Parliament member EmineKayar) "take to the squares with their character, their voices, their ululations, their colorful clothes."

KJA activist SemraGüneş said that in the wake of the struggle in Kobanê, this International Women's Day would be different from any before.

In Wan (Van) on Wednesday, women announced their preparations for a massive International Working Women's Day rally accompanied by the music of traditional erbane drums (also called daf). Actions in Wan started on February 25 and will continue until March 7, with actions in every region of Wan province reaching a climax in the March 4march from EskiEmniyet to the Newroz field.

KJA members from across the city, municipal co-chairs and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Wanprovincial co-chairs HamiyetŞahin and DeryaHayva attended a press conference held at the Rojîn Women's Life Center to kick off the March 8 preparations. The center was decorated with banners, balloons and photographs for the occasion.

BehiceErbağa, the Center's coordinator, summarized the history of March 8. She called attention to the importance of the World March of Women taking place in Nusaybin. She noted a range of important events that women would be rebelling against on March 8: the rape and murder of ÖzgecanAslan, the Internal Security Law that increased the scope for police violence and made women's self-defense illegal, the continued imprisonment of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.

After the meeting, Wan women distributed purple scarves and gathered to write letters to women political prisoners.

In the city of Mêrdînon Wednesday, women preparing for the Nusaybin kickoff of the World March of Women met with the Directorate of Women's Politics of themetropolitan municipal government. MekiyeGüzel, head of the directorate, said the victory of women in Rojava against Daesh would bring all women of the region out into the streets. The municipality, she said, will do everything possible to assist with the World March of Women, for which hundreds of women guests from around the world are expected.

(şd/mg/za/fk/gk/cm)