JINHA

MÊRDÎN – As the slogan “a stone on the barricade, a stone for free life” spreads across the besieged town Nusaybin, the women who have organized defense force YPS-Jin say that women’s organizing is now inevitable.

The Turkish state has declared 24-hour curfews six separate times in the town of Nusaybin, in Mardin province. 23 residents have died in the blockade on Nusaybin so far, as the resistance continues. After residents founded the Civil Defense Units (YPS) in the face of the attacks, Nusaybin women have now formed their own autonomous unit: YPS-Jin (“jin” means “woman” in Kurdish.)

Barricades are up in five neighborhoods in the town. As residents go from door to door with the call “to the barricades,” barricade construction continues throughout the night while citizens organize vigils. Women of the YPS-Jin explained why they decided to join the defense units.

Hêvî was studying at university when the clashes intensified in the region.

“Every minute that I was in class at university, news would come that a child was killed. I couldn’t stay silent. So I decided to join the YPS,” said Hêvî. “While I was in class, there was a life being taken every minute in my homeland. In a country where innocent people are killed just for being Kurdish, thinking about my economic future didn’t help my conscience.” Hêvî said that she realized that thinking about the future in such a climate was “just fooling myself” and returned to her hometown of Nusaybin.

When barricades went up in her neighborhood, Ronahî all of a sudden found herself in the YPS-Jin.

“Everything just happens suddenly; it’s like that in war,” said Ronahî. “All of a sudden, the table where we were talking about peace was overturned. No Kurd wants it to be like this. I don’t want it either, but I’m facing a force that kills me with shells and shotguns. People feel like they have to take up a gun at this point.

“With the war declared out of the blue, out of the blue I joined YPS-Jin,” said Ronahî.

YPS-Jin member Dilgeş explained why women who had joined the YPS forces felt obligated to form a separate organization.

“On the one hand, we’re waging an armed struggle; on the other hand, we’re also waging a women’s struggle against patriarchal society,” said Dilgeş. “As women, we’re trying to show that we can be present everywhere. So just having the YPS would have been inadequate.

“Abdullah Öcalan says, ‘society can’t be free unless women is free,’” said Dilgeş, quoting the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). “So for this reason, it was unavoidable for us to organize as YPS-Jin.

“Everyone needs to make a barricade in front of their own home, because every stone on the barricade brings us closer to a free life,” said Dilgeş.

(zd/gc/cm)