Page 184 - The Danger of a Communist Kurdistan

despite all this purple prose, it appears
that in actual practice inside the organiza-
tion, women are looked down on by men,
not regarded as equal and undervalued.
Many women who were uneasy at the
discrepancies between the organization’s
words and deeds and its promises and

actions wished to leave it. Some escaped,
and others were caught trying to escape,
denounced as traitors and punished. 12

It is no surprise that despite all that
talk, women say their only role in the
Necati Alkan, Symbols, Actors PKK was “to be used.” Women have
and Women in the PKK always regarded as worthless entities
under communist systems. The same
thing therefore applies within the PKK.
Indeed, since as a result of his Marxist-Leninist ideology Öcalan regar-

ded family, the law, education, religion, tribe as upper structure estab-
lishments, in his first writings he referred to women as people who
“lower and debase men.” 13
Furthermore, since communism is an ideology that desires a com-

munal system, there can be no question of “women’s worth” in such a
system. Under the system desired by communism, women are regar-
ded as communal property, just like children and all other goods. In an
environment in which there is no family and moral system, in which
everything is regarded as a "commodity" to be exploited in the com-
munal arena, the kind of a "value" that could be attached to women
could easily be understood.

182 The Danger of a Communist Kurdistan