On February 27, 2025, imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) founder and leader Abdullah Ocalan issued the “Call for Peace and Democratic Society,” a historic declaration aimed at ending decades of conflict in Turkey and Kurdistan and opening the door for a new democratic peace process. This call was addressed to the Turkish public and state and to the international community. It generated cautious optimism across various sectors. Global powers, like the United States and China, and key regional actors, including European and Middle Eastern governments, expressed their support. These responses highlighted that the Kurdish question is not merely a domestic issue in Turkey, but an international issue deeply intertwined with regional and global dynamics.

Ocalan’s call also facilitated dialogue and reconciliation in neighboring Syria. Since the fall of the Baathist regime,  Kurdish communities there have defended the model of strong local self-governance they established in 2011, known as the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). Through a historic agreement struck with the Syrian transitional government in March 2025, they also plan to contribute to the reconstruction of the country as a whole through proposals grounded in pluralism, decentralization, and equality.

In both Turkey and Syria, the Kurdish political movement is advocating not only for Kurdish rights but also for a deeper democratic transformation. Women’s freedom must be part of this transformation. For women’s movements, the question at hand is not simply whether or not new peace talks will begin, but what kind of peace is being proposed. Experience has shown that ceasefires or negotiations alone do not bring genuine change. What truly matters is the content of the process and who has the power to shape it.

What Does Peace Mean To Women?

Too often, peace is reduced to the mere absence of violence. Yet real peace goes far beyond the end of conflict. It is a social contract based on justice, equality, and freedom. Ceasefires are important for achieving this, but they must be understood as a starting point, not an endpoint. Previous processes in Turkey have shown that a pause in armed clashes does not necessarily mean reconciliation. Unless political mindsets change, historical truths are acknowledged, and equal citizenship is guaranteed, the silence may be broken again.

Women’s freedom movements can contribute to this deeper understanding of peace. For them, peace is a way of life in which women have an equal voice, labor is valued, violence is eliminated, nature is protected, and all peoples live in dignity and equality. Regardless of whether official processes move forward, women’s liberation struggles continue to transform society. As is often said, “without women’s freedom, society cannot be free.” This perspective is not only held by Kurdish women. It resonates with all women who strive for peace and justice in Turkey.

In the Middle East, policies of war and violence grounded in male domination target women first and foremost. Women face multiple and intersecting forms of oppression, including femicide, assimilation, poverty, rape culture, political exclusion, and the exploitation of their bodies and labor. For Kurdish women, this oppression stems both from patriarchal norms and the colonial policies of the nation-state. Their gender and their ethnic identity place them at the center of systemic marginalization.

Yet it would be incomplete to define women in Kurdistan solely as victims. Women in our region have built a strong tradition of resistance and organization aimed at the liberation of the Kurdish people, all women, and society as a whole.

Around the world, war is not limited to armed conflict between states or military groups. Systemic violence against women, including femicide, is among the most brutal expressions of warfare. As the 1993 Vienna Declaration emphasized, violence against women is a tool of patriarchal systems that constitutes a violation of human rights. While genocide is the systematic destruction of an entire people, femicide represents an organized and structural war against women. Women’s identity, bodies, labor, and will are targeted directly. Femicide is not merely a form of violence; it is a method of erasure and domination.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 obliges states to ensure women’s full and independent participation in peace processes in conflict zones. But participation alone is not enough. Women must shape the agenda, define the content, and determine the direction of the process. The struggle against femicide is the struggle for peace itself. Peace must be a space where women’s presence is not symbolic but foundational.

This understanding demands political and social organization.The autonomous women’s structures developed in Kurdistan have emerged as transformative and foundational forces within this framework. The dozens of institutions women have created and the self-governance mechanisms they have established are not only spaces of solidarity, but also concrete foundations for justice and social peace. The women’s revolution in North and East Syria, known in Kurdish as Rojava, is the clearest example of this. Women leaders and women’s organizations there are playing important roles in ensuring that the rights of all women will be protected in negotiations with the transitional government.

For this reason, we see peace as inseparable from the broader struggle to transform society. Whether or not a formal process is initiated in Turkey, our commitment to building a life based on women’s freedom remains unchanged. For us, peace is not only the end of war, but the creation of a life free from oppression and inequality, rooted in ecological balance and collective dignity.

Women in the Turkish-Kurdish Peace Process

Our perspective on ongoing discussions about resolution efforts in Turkey is shaped by this understanding. Following Ocalan’s call, women’s organizations clearly stated that no process can move forward without women’s leadership and participation. Ocalan himself had repeatedly emphasized that women’s inclusion is not optional, but a fundamental requirement for democratic resolution. This places a responsibility on women to engage with political clarity, strength, and collective organization.

Today, pro-peace women leaders are involved in the negotiations. Women MPs from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) Party have participated in meetings with Ocalan and worked to explain the ongoing negotiations to their constituents. Women’s organizations have organized their supporters to understand and support peace talks. As past processes have been criticized for their top-down nature and lack of social involvement, we hope to bring this process to the grassroots by including women from all backgrounds and life experiences.

The struggle for a peace that meaningfully addresses the concerns of women is far from over. We approach this latest call with both hope and caution. Previous processes lacked sincerity and were often driven by short-term political calculations. The Turkish state under President Erdogan has so far avoided taking meaningful steps and has instead instrumentalized the issue for internal and regional gains. As long as war continues in Kurdistan, democracy cannot flourish in Turkey. Without the recognition of Kurds and women as equal citizens, lasting social peace will remain out of reach.

One of the most urgent needs in this context is to strengthen and deepen alliances with women’s movements, institutions, and organizations across Turkey. The state’s long-standing criminalization of Kurdish women has hindered broader social engagement. But today, new bridges are being built. Kurdish and Turkish women’s organizations are creating shared spaces of resistance, exchanging experiences, and building collective strength. The fight against all forms of violence against women, femicide, poverty, cultural repression, and political exclusion will require a united front.

The damage caused by war and authoritarianism in Turkey cannot be repaired without placing women at the center. This is not a theoretical claim, but a truth grounded in the lived experience of those who have built systems like the co-chair model, women’s assemblies, and gender equality mechanisms in local governance. These structures have contributed to transforming social consciousness and have laid the foundations for real peace.

While there may not yet be an official negotiation process, for women, the fight against war and femicide is a daily reality. That is why women must define and lead any negotiation effort. Women are not just representatives. They are the ones who make transformation possible.

This is a struggle that has always been advanced by women who build peace through daily resistance, social transformation, and radical solidarity. What we call peace is not a future agreement. It is the life we are fighting to create, here and now.