SULEYMANIYE – Nagihan Akarsel, an activist and academician, editor of Jineolojî magazine and member of Jineolojî Research Center in Sulaymaniyah, was martyred as a result of an armed attack. It was reported that Akarsel lost her life in the attack. The attack took place in front of Akarsel’s house at 10:00 local time. Akarsel’s body was taken to the Forensic Medicine Institute for autopsy.
Born in Konya, Akarsel worked as a reporter, newspaper and magazine writer. Akarsel, who has signed many researches on women, has been carrying out the studies of Jineology Academy in Sulaymaniyah for the last few years.
KJK Committee: They will not be able to stop the women’s revolution!
In a written statement, the KJK Democratic Relations and Alliances Committee condemned the armed attack targeting Nagihan Akarsel in Sulaymaniyah this morning.
THERE IS A CLEAR CONNECTION BETWEEN THE ASSASSINS
The committee’s statement is as follows:
“We welcome the assassination of Nagihan Akarsel, a member of the Jineology Academy and a soldier of the Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Movement, with great anger, and we condemn the genocidal TC with hatred. The murder is the latest example of the fascist Turkish state’s policy of genocide against the leaders of the women’s revolution in Kurdistan.
Nagihan Akarsel was murdered in a targeted manner in the city of Silêmanî in Bashure Kurdistan this morning. In her nearly 30 years of struggle, she was a well-known figure among Kurdish society and women with her journalist-author and Jineology identity, which resonates all over the world today, constantly vitalizing the Jin Jiyan Azadi philosophy.
The murder of Nagihan Akarsel is not an isolated incident. Especially in the last 10 years, the fascist-misogynistic Turkish state has been trying to prevent and stop the rising women’s revolution in Kurdistan by murdering its leaders. In this sense, there is a very clear connection between the massacre committed in Paris on January 9, 2013 and targeting Martyr Sakine Cansız, the Kobanê massacre targeting the leaders of Kongra Star on June 23, 2020, and finally the assassination of our comrade Nagihan Akarsel.
PIONEERS ARE TARGETED SYSTEMATICALLY
The fascist Turkish state is well aware of the leading role played by the organized women’s power in the Kurdistan Freedom Movement. Therefore, it systematically targets the leaders of the Women’s Freedom Movement in order to destroy our resistance, break our revolutionary will, and thus liquidate our freedom struggle.
In addition, the martyrdom of Nagihan Akarsel is the last link of a series of assassinations that Turkish intelligence has committed in Bashure Kurdistan in the last year, resulting in the murder of 4 members of the Freedom Movement and their patriots. Since all these murders were committed in the city of Silêmani, it also makes the administration of this place and the Kurdistan Regional Government responsible. We do not accept that the anti-Kurdish Turkish Republic implements its dirty plans and brutal murders in the lands under the control of Kurdish forces. We expect the Silêmani provincial administration to take all necessary measures immediately to catch the killers and ensure the security of the Kurds in Kurdistan. This means preventing all kinds of dirty activities of the fascist Turkish state within the borders of Bashure Kurdistan.
When we look at the situation beyond our own borders, we can see a similar policy and attitude towards leading revolutionary women in different parts of the world. This reveals that we are faced with the global counter-attack of capitalist misogyny, which is trying to prevent our century from turning into an age of women’s liberation.
THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PREVENT THE WOMEN’S REVOLUTION
This is why they attack us so wildly, in an organized and systematic way. However, there is a truth they tend to forget: No matter what they do, they will not be able to prevent us from realizing our freedom, they will not be able to block the women’s revolution. When one of us is missing, we will fill his place with thousands. This fact can be seen mostly in Rojhilatê Kurdistan and Iran, in the serhildan that was raised after the death of Jîna Emini.
As the confederal umbrella organization of the Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Movement, we condemn the fascist Turkish state, which is a murderous state, and its local collaborators. We also condemn the interstate community whose members claim a ‘feminist foreign policy’ and approve of the Turkish state’s murder of Kurdish women revolutionaries within and beyond its borders.
WE CALL TO DEFEND THE WOMEN’S REVOLUTION
We call on the women of Kurdistan and the world to take a strong stand against Turkey’s policy of genocide against the members and supporters of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, especially the women’s movement. As women of the world, it is more important than ever that we oppose the counter attacks of the global patriarchal system, which is trying to prevent the realization of the age of women’s revolution, in an organized and effective manner. In this sense, we invite especially autonomous women’s groups, revolutionary movements, feminist scientists and all women who struggle to build a free life to embrace the memory of Nagihan Akarsel and the resistance she represents by protesting her murder. We call on the women’s revolution to defend the women’s revolution by taking a strong stance against any attack targeting the Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Movement.
Let’s overthrow all fascist and misogynist regimes by turning our revolts into a world women’s revolution! Let’s embrace the memory of our comrade Nagihan Akarsel by raising our common struggle and organization to a higher level based on Jineology!”
Kongra Star Statement on the assassination of Jineoloji member Nagihan Akarsel
‘Our response to the assassination of our comrade Nagihan Akarsel will be the success of the women’s revolution all over the world.
Today we learned with sadness and anger that the activist, fighter for women’s freedom and member of Jineolije Nagîhan Akarsel was killed in the morning hours in an assassination attempt in front of her house in Süleymaniye. Nagihan Akarsel was a member of the Jineoloji Academy and co-editor of the Jineolojie magazine. With Jineoljie science from the perspective of free women, she wanted to build a free society. Nagihan put the slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî!”/”Women, Life, Freedom” into practice with great will, courage and love.
This attack is targeted, knowingly and systematically in all parts of Kurdistan against the revolution of the women and the people. This political feminicide against women who are at the forefront of their society is the policy of the murderous Turkish state. This attack is against the revolution of women and the people who are leading it. In Rojava, the Turkish state is trying to destroy the struggle of women through political feminicide. With the assassination of the pioneers of women’s freedom like our comrades, the politician Hevrin Khalef, the activists of the women’s movement Zehra Berkel, Hebûn Xelin, Emine Weysî, member of the Women’s Defense Forces YPJ Jiyan Tolhildan and finally the politician and member of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria Zeyneb Serokhan, the Turkish state has persistently tried to weaken the struggle. But the persistence, will and strength of the freedom-loving women will not be weakened or broken. Our answer will be the victory of the women’s revolution all over the world.
This attack is the fourth in a year in the town of Silemany in South Kurdistan and is responsible for the martyrdom of Shukri Sarhad, Mihemed Zekı Çelebi and Suhêl Khorshid. The Turkish government, with the help of its intelligence service, MIT and the government of South Kurdistan, is targeting activists and community leaders in the town of Süleimaniye. The government of South Kurdistan and especially the KDP are responsible for these attacks.
We strongly condemn this brutal attack on the scientist, publicist and our comrade Nagihan Akarsel. Those responsible for the attack must be held accountable and the international silence on the murder of democracy activists must be broken. Attacks of this kind must be prevented.
It is no coincidence that at a time when women in Rojhilat, Iran and all over the world are chanting “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” and shaking the nation-state system based on patriarchy, those who put this slogan into practice are murdered. The attack in Suleimanya is an attack on all women who demand their freedom, who march with the slogan “Women, Life, Freedom”. Therefore, we call on all women and people marching under this slogan to stand by Nagihan Akarsel and what she has been representing and to raise their voices. At this time, we must turn the anger over the murder of Nagihan Akarsel into an even stronger resistance. Let us make the 21st century the century of women’s freedom with jineolojie, women’s solidarity and the slogan “Jin Jiyan Azadi”.
Jin Jiyan Azadî
Kongra Star
KCDK-E calls for urgent action everywhere
Making a written statement, KCDK-E said, “The assassination of Nagihan Akarsel in Süleymaniye was against women’s freedom.”
Reminding that “Jineology Editor academician Nagiyan Akarsel was martyred in the brutal assassination attack that took place in Sulaymaniyah on the morning of October 4,” KCDK-E said, “This attack by the fascist AKP-MHP regime and its collaborator treason gang KDP is an attack on a free resisting woman and Paris. It is the continuation of the massacre that took place,” he said.
The statement continued: “As KCDK-E, we condemn this massacre and call on everyone who is in favor of women’s freedom to condemn this attack with their actions.
Especially at a time when women’s struggle for freedom, equality and democracy in Iran-Rojhilat became internationalized around the slogan JIN-JIYAN-AZADI, this assassination of Jineology magazine editor Nagihan Akarsel in Sulaymaniyah is an attack on the idea of Jineology-Women’s freedom. This attack, in the person of Nagihan, is an attack on the idea of women’s freedom, the Kurdish people, democracy and freedom, and is a continuation of the Paris massacre. It is also the continuation of liquidating the Kurdish freedom struggle.
AKP-MHP fascism, which is the representative of the one-jihadist masculine male-dominant idea, attacks the idea of women’s freedom in and out of the country with all kinds of dirty methods, creating hostility and wanting to prevent it. Because they are leading the struggle against this hegemonic and colonialist understanding inside and outside the country and they see that it will defeat the fascist regime.
As KCDK-E, we call on the Kurdish people and all those who are pro-democracy, freedom and equality in all European countries, Canada and Australia in particular, to take to the streets immediately and take action against this vile assassination in Sulaymaniyah. Let’s protect the steadfast defenders of Jin Jiyan Azadi in the strongest possible way.”
THERE IS ACTION IN MANY CITIES IN SWITZERLAND
Another call came from the Swiss Kurdish Women’s Union (YJK-S). YJK-S invited the Kurds and their friends to the squares this evening.
The statement said, “This massacre carried out by the fascist AKP/MHP regime and its collaborator, the treacherous KDP, is essentially an attack on free women. In this cowardly and despicable attack, our comrade Nagihan Akarsel was killed with 11 bullets. We, as Kurdish women, ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’ We call on all our friends to come to the fields against this massacre attack against their indomitable defenders.
Here are the actions tonight:
Zurich: Bahnhof / 18.30
Bern: Bahnhofplatz / 18.30
Basel: Bahnhofplatz / 18.30
Aarau Bahnhofplatz / 17.00
The Kurdish women's movement in Europe protested against in Frankfuhrt the deadly attack on #NagihanAkarsel in Suleymaniya.
She was one of the original proponents of the #JinJiyanAzadî slogan.#StopFeminicides pic.twitter.com/m1nxyLBKZk— Kongra Star Women's Movement Rojava (@starrcongress) October 4, 2022
