HESEKÊ, ROJAVA
One of the biggest changes that became with the Rojava Revolution was to the life of women. In the enlightenment of Leader Abdullah Ocalan’s ideology, the Rojava revolution set an example not only in the political and military field, but also in sports. Women are taking strong across Rojava and especially in the Pilingên Taekwondo education centre.
The women athlete’s training in this school have won many awards such as gold, silver and bronze medals in international competitions, partaking as ‘Roj Team’ on behalf of Syria and Rojava.
The female athletes of Pilingên Taekwondo school who we extended our microphones to emphasized their desire to become one of the few examples for women in the sports field.
Yara Ebdul Xefur, one of the Roj Team’s best, talked about the operation of the school and the difficulties she faced as a woman.
Yara outlined: “Pilingên Taekwondo school was established in 2009. I have been an athlete of this school since its establishment. We have been participating in competitions in Syria from 2009 to 2011. We participated in the competition in Jordan and in Turkey, we won the first championship for women in the Middle East. We participated in Lebanon in 2019. We could not attend in Egypt because of the pandemic, but we participated in the contests in Jerusalem and Tunisia.
When I practised Taekwondo for the first time, I was told by my closest people that it was ‘Shame.’ They refused to believe that a woman was capable of practising Taekwondo. I put all my will into it and now many women want to learn Taekwondo, they want to be a part of this sport because we made international victories a possibility. Women should increase their belief in themselves, this sport has given us such a belief that we continue to tear down the walls of shame being put up by society, the walls that do not allow women to practice this sport. ”
At the end of her speech, Yara mentioned the following; “I hope all women will be able to defend themselves, not just in Taekwondo, but in every field.”
The athlete named Şîlan Mihemed said, “As a young woman, I came to Pilingên Taekwondo school with my own will, to set an example for young women.
Şilan cncluded, “I participated in competitions in Tunisia, I won a bronze medal. I thank everyone who supported me and thank my teacher, Ebdul Azîz Abê, who helped me achieve my goal in life. ”
NC // Zeryan Deniz Amed – Firaz Dag
