Kurds who migrated from their lands due to Turkey's oppression in the 1990s and settled in Makhmur Camp in the Federated Kurdistan Region are building a new life here with the paradigm of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The camp, which is under the control of the KDP, is constantly targeted by Iraq and Turkey due to the construction of a new life. However, despite all attacks and threats, the people do not leave the region. Women lead the camp where a communal and equal life is built. Organised under the umbrella of the Ishtar Assembly, which was established in the camp in 2003, women take part in every field from neighbourhood communes to popular assemblies, from municipal administration to camp security. By ensuring gender equality in the communes and assemblies they have established, women present the egalitarian system they have established as a model.

 

MORAL AND POLITICAL SOCIETY 

 

Eyshe Marinos, member of Makhmur Foreign Relations, said that a new model of life has emerged in Makhmur with Abdullah Öcalan's women's paradigm and the idea of democratic nation. Eyshe Marinos stated that women paid a heavy price for this and said, "Today, women are both defending themselves and realising social defence. Self-defence is the main issue for us. Perhaps it is the most primary substance of this system. Because where there is no defence, construction is incomplete. The priority of the women of Mexmûr is to strengthen and socialise defence. We started and grew the struggle with self-defence. The prices paid as a result of self-defence turned into gains. Women take part in all areas of society and lead the way in equal representation. This is the system we have established here. The dominant mentality has always targeted women first. Being aware of this, women strengthened self-defence and socialised it here."

 

Eyshe Marinos stated that women organise themselves in the localities and that gender equality has reached a certain level in the camp. Eyshe Marinos added, "Women from Makhmur organise themselves under the roof of Ishter and protect their rights. Today, women organise themselves in every field and lead the way. All our institutions are managed with the co-chair system. What is being built here today is equality between men and women. It is a moral, political society."

 

LIBERTARIAN PARADIGM 

 

Evin Colemergi, a member of Kevana Star a Zêrîn, emphasised that women lead the society in Makhmur and added, "Women lead the society. This is very important for us. As women from Makhmur, we celebrate March 8 in the same spirit as we celebrate Newroz as a resurrection. It is women who lead the established system. The more conscious the woman is, the more conscious the society is. In Makhmur, we reject the roles imposed on us by the system and empower ourselves with the 'Democratic ecological women's libertarian paradigm'."

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut