Kurdish politician Hevrin Xelef was brutally murdered by a jihadist militia during the Turkish invasion of northern Syria five years ago. Her commitment as Secretary General of the Syrian Future Party is not forgotten.
The Municipalities Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) is working on running a water pumping station using alternative energy to tackle the electricity and fuel shortages in a village in Deir ez-Zor Governorate in eastern Syria.
“Women’s City Garden” opened by the Rêya Armûşê (İpekyolu) Municipality held by the DEM Party has yielded its harvest. “We get what we produce,” said Sebiha Yakut, one of the women working in the garden.
Another school year has begun in the university system in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES). Over 3,000 students attend the three DAANES universities, Rojava University, located in Qamishlo, Kobane University in Kobane, and the newest, Al-Sharq University in Raqqa. A fourth, the University of Afrin, was forced to close following the Turkish occupation of the city in 2018.
“Green spaces play an effective and positive role in climate change. Our aim is to create a clean and healthy environment,” said Meha Mihemed, Co-chair of the Ecology Department of the People’s Municipality in Til Temir.
In order to make it easier for women to participate in public life, “Jinkart” project has been introduced in Kurdish cities in Turkey. The municipal projects for women that were shut down under state administration are being reactivated.
The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North-Eastern Syria (DAANES) is building an alternative education system under siege from multiple powers, defying the control of the Ba’athist education system of the Assad regime as well as the Turkish occupation forces and their proxies. The alternative system has accomplished such measures as the reintroduction of the Kurdish language for young students—drastically altering the way of life in the region. However, building institutions of higher education in an area where many native Kurds could not even have Syrian citizenship two decades ago poses a major challenge.
The Deir ez-Zor Canton Municipalities Union has opened the Siwêdan solar water station.
Two more people were taken into custody as part of the wave of repression against Kurdish language institutions. This brings the total number of people in custody from Kurdish cultural and language organizations to 31.
MED-DER worker Mehmet Asena said that the raids on MED-DER and Payîz Pirtûk were part of a systematic and special war policy, and added that they will defend the Kurdish language despite the arrests and repression.
Women of Deir ez-Zor keep growing cotton despite all the difficulties caused by climate change and the ongoing attacks.
Even though the necessary outcry by environmental and climate movements to stop the ecological catastrophe that unfolds in the Middle East is missing, slowly the silence is breaking. In this context, Fridays For Future made a step to uncover the Turkish politics with a video they shared on their social platform .
