Thousands of women in northern Syria take to the streets for their rights

In northern Syria, thousands of women have taken to the streets to demonstrate. They demand that the Syrian transitional government respects women’s rights and ensures that they retain their rights. “Women should not be excluded from rights in this system,” an activist at the demonstration told the news agency Reuters.

For the time being, the rebel group HTS, which ousted the Assad government in early December, is in charge in Syria. With these new Islamic rulers, many women in the north of the country are afraid that they will lose the rights they have acquired in recent years.

An HTS spokesperson claimed last week that women are unsuitable for certain government positions due to their “biological and physiological nature”. The rebel group’s leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said last week BBC that he is in favor of university education for women, but he did not comment further on women’s rights.

The women in the city of Qamishli took to the streets:

The women also demand that the new rulers condemn Turkish military actions in the north. Many of the protesters waved green flags Female People’s Protection Units (YPJ), a branch of the Kurdish rebel group YPG.

After Assad’s departure, the Turkish army attacked several targets in northern Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have largely been in charge in that area since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011. One of the most important militias within the SDF is the Kurdish YPG: they played an important role in driving IS out of Syria and still guard camps where IS fighters are being held.

Turkey sees the Kurdish militias as an extension of the PKK, a Kurdish movement that strives for more autonomy within Turkey. The Turkish government considers the PKK a terrorist movement. The EU and the US also have the PKK on their list of terrorist organizations.

Turkey also wants to prevent the Kurds from establishing an independent Kurdish state. That is why in recent weeks militias and several towns in northern Syria have been attacked by the Turkish army and Turkish-backed militias.

The Turkish Foreign Minister also demanded yesterday at a press conference with Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the HTS rebels, that the Kurdish militias in Syria be dissolved.