Sorgûl Şêxo/JINHA

TIL TEMIR - Fatma Silêman was forced to marry a 75-year-old man while she was just 14 years old and she was subjected to violence for years. Fatma has changed her life following the Rojava Revolution. She is now the chairwoman of commune in Til Temîr. She has maintained her struggle.

Fatma Silêman, who lives in Cizîr Canton, was forced to marry a 75-year-old man while she was just 14 years old. She lost her mother when she was a child and she was subjected to violence for years. Fatma, who didn’t know anything about women’s organization, attempted to suicide out of desperation. Her attempt was realized early and she was saved. Fatma is now chairwoman of commune in her neighborhood. She has tried to develop solution for women’s problems. Fatma told her story to our news agency.

‘I was forced to marry a 75-year-old man’

Fatma said she lost her mother when she was a child, “We were siblings and all of us were in small age. My father married again following the death of my mother. I couldn’t go to school due to the condition. All my siblings went to school and they had a profession but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to marry; however, I was forced to marry a 75-year-old man. I was a child when I was married and I was subjected to violence. I didn’t know anything about women’s organization and I could defend myself against violence. I had no solution and I didn’t know what I should do.”

Fatma said she set her body on fire due to violence she faced; “I didn’t know what I should do and I set my body on fire. The folks saved me when realizing. Then, I had children. I raised my children in tears. I had a living death. Sometimes, I wished to meet the PKK and joined them that time. No women deserve these pains. The best area for women is free area. Women should become helpless and they should find a way to fight.”

‘I fight for other women and children’

“I suffered a lot but I am fighting in order to prevent women to suffer and children to be forced to marry,” said Fatma. She noted that she tried to find solution for problems of women, “There wasn’t justice for women. Women did what men wanted from them. Women were sold for bride price under the name of marriage.”

Fatma said women began to take their parts in every division in life following the Rojava Revolution, “Now, women decide about their life. No one will be forced to child marriage. Those who force children to marry will be punished with new law. I devote myself to women’s struggle for the rest of my life. Before, we couldn’t raise our voice against injustice but now we can. We should organize and become conscious.”

(pk/mg/gd)