Our mission
REPAK is committed to advancing the collective freedom
of Kurdish women. It does this by connecting their diverse
experiences across the four parts of Kurdistan and the
diaspora, and by building strategic international alliances.
is mission is rooted in the belief that women’s liberation
forms the basis of democratic, just and peaceful societies.
REPAK‘s core goals include:
• Representing Kurdish women from all regions on global
platforms and forums to ensure their collective voice is
heard rather than their voices being fragmented.
• Fostering dialogue and unity among Kurdish women’s
institutions across North, East, South and West Kurdistan,
as well as the diaspora.
• Promoting democratic national unity through a women’s
perspective to contribute to the construction of a plural,
inclusive Kurdish society.
• Challenging all forms of patriarchy, including those
within Kurdish society, through campaigns, education, and
ideological struggle.
• Forging alliances with feminist, ecological, anti-racist,
anti-capitalist and decolonial movements worldwide.
• Supporting campaigns against femicide, gender-based
violence, and systemic inequality.
• Sharing knowledge of and experience with women-
led governance models, such as co-presidency, radical
democracy, communal economy and Jineolojî (women’s
science).
• Ensuring the implementation of the CEDAW
Convention, especially across West Asia, and holding all
male-dominated institutions accountable.
• Guaranteeing the independent participation of women
in all peace processes in conict zones, in line with UN
Security Council Resolution 1325.
REPAK – A Shared Platform of
Representation, Solidarity, and Strategy
e unity experienced during the war and resistance in
Kobanê, West Kurdistan (Rojava), in 2014, highlighted the
need for Kurdish women to have a common representation
mechanism. Despite having organised themselves locally
and regionally, they lacked a unied international voice.
Until 2014, diplomatic work and foreign relations were
handled by individual Kurdish women‘s institutions or
organisations. It became clear that they needed a collective,
pluralistic and representative structure that transcended
political and ideological boundaries.
us, REPAK — the Kurdish Women‘s Relations Oce —
was founded in South Kurdistan in 2014. It was collectively
formed by women‘s representatives from all four parts of
Kurdistan and the diaspora. In this sense, REPAK doesn´t
signify a solitary movement, but is a mechanism for Kurdish
women as a whole – diverse, autonomous and united.
It emerged from the realisation that, although Kurdish
women form international alliances through their regional
organisations, a shared diplomatic body was needed to
represent the collective voice of Kurdish women across
languages, realities, and struggles. e focus wasn´t
on homogenisation, but on providing a platform for
connections, representation and common strategies.
rough REPAK, Kurdish women have found a way to
present themselves to the world as a unied force, rooted
in diversity rather than fragmented by dierent struggles.
Five decades of resistance, grassroots organising and the
trust built among women across all parts of Kurdistan are
represented by REPAK.
REPAK
Kurdish Women´s
Relations Ofce
Kontakt
info@repak-women.org
www.repak-women.org
REPAK
Women´s reality in West Asia and the
struggle of Kurdish women
Following the First and Second World Wars, West Asia
became the setting for a new period of global redivision.
e region‘s natural resources and strategic location have
fuelled ongoing power wars between global forces. Today,
these interests are pursued through proxy wars carried out
by paramilitary groups and religious actors. As societies are
fragmented, it is women, people and nature that bear the
heaviest burden.
Yet West Asia is not only a geography of war and destruction;
it is also the cradle of the rst women-led civilisations and
of cultures grounded in communal life and coexistence. is
historical memory shows us that a free and just life in these
lands remains possible.
In this context, the resistance of Kurdish women has emerged
as a transformative force that not only exposes oppression,
but also transcends it. In the four parts of Kurdistan that are
divided between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, women have
been struggling against colonialism, patriarchy, religious
domination, state violence and economic marginalisation.
However, their struggle has not been limited to resistance.
Kurdish women have established their own autonomous
organisations and become transformative subjects in the
struggle. In each part of Kurdistan and across the diaspora,
they have established associations, assemblies, cooperatives,
educational and legal initiatives, defence structures and
media platforms.
While each structure reects the unique conditions of
its region, they are all shaped by the 50-year legacy of the
Kurdish Women’s Movement in terms of ideology, structure
and mentality.
Kurdish women have resisted not only state repression, but
also patriarchal and feudal mentalities within their own
communities. ey have redened women as active agents
of resistance and creators of a new life, rather than passive
victims. Today, while their autonomous organisation may
dier in form from region to region, it is united by a shared
vision of collective liberation.
Kurdish women: pioneers of resistance
Kurdish women face multi-layered oppression and
marginalisation, including patriarchal domination,
assimilation, massacres, genocides, the articial partitioning
of their country and labour exploitation. However, to dene
them solely by their victimhood would be insucient.
roughout history, they have played inuential roles in
society as bearers of culture and identity and as pioneers of
resistance.
ey have led cultural resistance, especially through
language, identity and heritage, in the face of assimilation
and annihilation policies imposed by nation-states. Today,
Kurdish women inspire freedom struggles within Kurdish
society and across West Asia and the world.
Women’s Organization and Achievements in the
Four Parts of Kurdistan
North Kurdistan (Turkey):
Here, women have played a pioneering role in the Kurdish
people’s struggle for freedom and identity. Since the late 20th
century, they have been actively involved in the political,
social and cultural spheres, guiding processes of societal
transformation. Today, through autonomous women’s
organisations, they are present at all levels, from local
administration to national politics, based on the principles
of a 50% gender quota and co-presidency. Consequently,
they are leading both organisational and ideological
transformation.
West Kurdistan/Rojava (Syria):
Since the Rojava women’s revolution began in 2013,
women have formed self-defence units and built their own
structures in areas such as communes, education, justice,
the economy and diplomacy. Rojava‘s women‘s revolution is
the rst major revolutionary movement of the 21st century.
It is not merely a political shi, but a social, economic and
mental revolution, based on constructing a free life centred
around women’s liberation.
East Kurdistan (Iran):
Despite repressive conditions, women’s organisations have
established resilient lines of resistance against executions,
stoning and widespread femicide. eir struggle against
the Islamic regime’s misogynistic laws and oppressive
politics is an expression of their will for a free life. ey
have globalised this struggle with the slogan ‚Jin, Jiyan,
Azadî‘ (Woman, Life, Freedom), and following the killing
of Jina Amini, they became the leading force behind mass
uprisings.
South Kurdistan (Iraq):
Despite the high price paid under the Ba‘ath regime,
women in this region continue to ght for equality and
freedom through democratic organisations and women‘s
institutions.
