{"id":14121,"date":"2025-07-14T08:44:04","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T08:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freedomforabdullahocalan.org\/en\/?p=14121"},"modified":"2025-07-14T08:44:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T08:44:06","slug":"eda-kalafat-abdullah-ocalans-voice-gives-us-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/?p=14121","title":{"rendered":"Eda Kalafat: Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s voice gives us strength"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Eda Kalafat, a member of the HDK Youth Assembly, said that hearing Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s voice after 26 years was highly significant for the youth, giving them strength and excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s historic call on February 27, Kurdish young people intensified their activities in Kurdistan and Turkey. Eda Kalafat, a member of the Peoples\u2019 Democratic Congress (HDK) Youth Assembly, said: \u201cWe are organizing democratic society readings, young women’s meetings, youth gatherings, and community meetings everywhere. We can say that we have become even more focused during this period on organizing ourselves and our people in light of our patriotic and revolutionary values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to ANF, Kalafat emphasized that the release of Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s video after 27 years had a unique significance for young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that the youth were among the most impacted by Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s February 27 call for Peace and a Democratic Society. She described the youth\u2019s challenges as follows: \u201cYoung people born after the International Conspiracy have lived their entire lives under the grip of multiple crises of capitalist modernity. Foremost among these are special warfare policies that especially target young women. While femicide continues everywhere under the male-dominated family institution and fascist state apparatus, in Kurdistan, it operates through a wide network including racist oppression by soldiers, police, village guards, gangs, education and housing centers. Young Kurdish women are suppressed and ideologically corrupted in every aspect of their lives. Youth in general face hopelessness, extreme economic inequality, forced migration due to political pressure, and lives marked by losses from war. As a form of escape, assimilation fosters aimlessness and meaninglessness among the youth. Whenever youths attempt to claim political rights or take action, they face heavy oppression, destruction, and torture. In this context, the call for a Democratic Society and Peace is a great beacon of hope for us. Leader Apo\u2019s words, \u2018We will either live life freely or we will consider it never lived,\u2019 deeply resonate with the patriotic youth. Because, for young people surrounded by fascism, the only thing that keeps them connected to life is the possibility of a free existence. That this call came from the Leadership carries profound meaning, as the 52 years of struggle for the Kurdish and all oppressed peoples gives us immense confidence and stirs great excitement in the face of this revolutionary will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Activities increased after call to young people<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalafat explained that following Leader Apo\u2019s call, both the HDK and the DEM Party Youth Assemblies ramped up their work, and that the message he sent to youth has increased motivation and excitement within youth circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continued: \u201cOur youth activities have intensified in every area since the call. From April 1 to 4, under the leadership of the DEM Party Youth Assembly, we organized a march from Amed to Amara. On the final day, we received the message Leader Apo had sent to the youth. In this message, Leader Apo [Abdullah \u00d6calan] emphasized the necessity of linking socialism to socialization, and this has further intensified our organizational efforts. We continued to vocally demand Leader Apo\u2019s physical freedom, hung banners in city centers, and carried out poster and sticker campaigns. We stress that one of the necessary conditions for building equality and freedom is also the physical freedom of the Leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many meetings organized by young people <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eda Kalafat shared details of their other activities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder the leadership of our Young Women\u2019s Coordination, the Binev\u015f Ecology Commission was founded, and we participated in the Women, Nature, and Culture Festival. We consider it our duty to defend our environment, which is being plundered by colonial law in Kurdistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-On June 15\u201316, we organized a ‘Youth and Democratic Society Conference’ in Okmeydan\u0131, led by the HDK Youth Assembly, bringing together 13 different youth organizations. We believe it\u2019s necessary to create an organizational and discussion platform that will force the rulers to bring peace by socializing it with all revolutionary and democratic sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-As part of the DEM Youth Assembly\u2019s campaign \u2018We Insist on a Socialist Life, We Organize with Free Leadership\u2019, many meetings were held from Turkey to Kurdistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Through screenings and discussions of the documentary Vej\u00eena Kurd<\/em>, we aimed to raise historical awareness among youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-From our culture and arts commissions to the ‘\u015eiyar Be’ platform formed in Amed as an anti-drug organization, we participated in various shifts, set up tents, organized democratic society readings and knowledge contests; we discussed our social problems and ideology with our patriotic people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Under the leadership of HDK Young Women, we held discussions on invisible women\u2019s labor, and under DEM Young Women, we discussed the women\u2019s dimension of the process and Leader Apo\u2019s defenses within the campaign framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Currently, our young women comrades are actively voicing their demands about the process in Ankara under the initiative \u2018I Need Peace\u2019, together with women from all walks of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Last weekend, simultaneous \u2018Democratic Society Workshops with Pioneer Youth\u2019 were held in Riha, Adana, Istanbul, Wan, and Amed, led by DEM Young Women, DEM Youth, and DBP Youth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young people want to socialize Abdullah \u00d6calan-s paradigm<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalafat stated that the common goal of all these efforts is to socialize Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s paradigm and understanding of socialism: \u201cAll our work is focused on organizing this paradigm and ideology within society. That\u2019s why we are holding democratic society readings, youth and women\u2019s meetings, and community gatherings everywhere. We can say we are more focused than ever on organizing ourselves and our people in light of our patriotic and revolutionary values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalafat stressed that for the youth, every word from Abdullah \u00d6calan represents a perspective, and she reminded that today\u2019s youth fighting in the struggle belong to a generation born after the International Conspiracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the youth, Leader Apo has a different place,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cFor the youth, every word and perspective from the Leadership is incredibly exciting\u2014we see and feel this everywhere. We felt it intensely after the February 27 letter during March 8 and Newroz. We experienced the most enthusiastic Newroz celebrations in years. The excitement peaked with the video message that followed the March 8 and April 4 letters and the congress perspective text. We, as young people, belong to a generation born after the International Conspiracy. Therefore, we only heard about the Leadership and many aspects of the struggle through stories and longing-filled memories. In our memory, establishing direct contact with the Leadership has a deeply emotional and cursed association with the conspiracy. But this is not only a value of the past\u2014it\u2019s something we feel is with us in every uprising and in all our organizing efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing Abdullah \u00d6calan’s voice gives young people strength<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kalafat continued: \u201cHearing the Leadership\u2019s voice for the first time after 26 years gave us tremendous strength and excitement. Hearing the voice of the leader of the world\u2019s largest socialist movement, as strong and alive as ever, must excite all oppressed peoples, sects, and women\u2014and it truly does. In our meetings with the public and young people, we also hear concerns about the uncertainty of the process, and questions or doubts about the other side of the negotiations. These are natural, but what we must especially be aware of is this: the youth should not be asking \u2018Where is the process going?\u2019\u2014they should be the ones deciding and acting on where to take the process. Every struggle we wage is for the self-governance of the people and for the agency of women and youth in a free life. Therefore, we must address our concerns and questions through our organized practice<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eda Kalafat, a member of the HDK Youth Assembly, said that hearing Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s voice after 26 years was highly significant for the youth, giving them strength and excitement. After Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s historic call on February 27, Kurdish young people intensified their activities in Kurdistan and Turkey. Eda Kalafat, a member of the Peoples\u2019 Democratic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/333-28.jpg?fit=990%2C556&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14123,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14121\/revisions\/14123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}