Page 114 - America's Failure to Perceive the PKK

This statement by Neval, who spent many years in the PKK, is par-
ticularly significant:

All measures in the name of women's freedom inside the PKK were
introduced as the most basic dynamic of the PKK system. One
of the main elements of the system that Öcalan wished to create
was female activity. Note that throughout the history of the party,
and particularly after 1990, Öcalan based his system and iden-
tity on the power of women to a significant extent. While putting
women in the balance, he actually benefitted from that more
than women did. (…) Thousands of Kurdish women who took
to the mountains and suffered numerous hardships in the name

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