Derbesiye, officially Al-Darbasiyah (Arabic: الدرباسية, Kurdish: Dirbêsiyê, Classical Syriac: ܕܪܒܐܣܝܐ) is part of the Al-Hasakah Canton in the Jazira Region of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. It lies on the Turkish border.
According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Darbasiyah had a population of 8,551 in the 2004 census. The majority of the residents are Kurds with a large Arab and a smaller Assyrian community.
For International Women's Day 2025, we take an in-depth look into life inside Jinwar women's village in Rojava’s Cizîrê Canton, in northeast Syria. Kurdish News platform Mezopotamya Agency recently carried out an important interview with village residents about life and collective resistance at Jinwar.
Jinwar is a solution against violence and genocide based on the values of women’s liberation, democratic community life, ecology, friendship of peoples and religions.
Women living in Jinwar, an all-women village, work together to build a common life. The village is the place that they always dreamed of living in.
In preparation for the forthcoming municipal elections in NES, planned for 11th of June [now postponed to 8 August, 2024], the DAANES passed a new law defining the administrative divisions of the NES region. This follows the DAANES’ publication of the new Social Contract in December 2023.
With 78 cooperatives, women also play a leading role in building a solidarity economy in Rojava. The construction of the economy takes place under war conditions.
Under the Baath regime, Rojava had to provide wheat for the whole of Syria. And it had to export oil in order to make foreign currency for Syria. Nothing else.
And now? As long as there is war, this will determine the economy of Rojava. 70% of the budget is used for weapons, ammunition, logistics, and so on. That's $10,000 a month. Then the families of fallen fighters need to be supported if they no longer have an income. They are given land and they are accepted into cooperatives. There are also cooperatives being opened in craft and trade specifically for them. Finally, because of the embargo, petrol and wheat cannot be exported. And the prices for commodities like vegetables and textiles are climbing.
Women in Rojava improve economy Pointing out that the women have improved the economy in Rojava, Armanc Mihemed, executive of the Economy Committee of Kongra Star, said that they have achieved significant successes by realizing many projects.
Despite the simple capabilities under the capitalist economy, and the constant attacks of the occupier on the regions of northeast and Syria, the economic toil of women has bore fruit to good results during 2020, as they played a leading role in easing the economic crisis that the region suffer from.
Armanc Mohammed, head of the Women’s Economy of North and East Syria, evaluated their work during the past year and discussed the projects that had been implemented and the economic level that women had reached in North and East Syria. Armanc said that women had begun a revolution in the economic field and given color to the year 2020 with their efforts.
Kongra Star continues to develop projects and establish cooperatives in northeastern Syria to promote women’s economic empowerment.
Kongra Star Economy Committee provides employment opportunities to women by creating new workplaces for women in the city of Hasakah, northeastern Syria.
The Women's Economy Committee in Hasakah, northeastern Syria, promotes women’s economic empowerment by developing projects that serve women, preserving women’s rights and preventing women’s exploitation.
Despite the embargo and attacks, grassroots democratic women's structures in Rojava continue to work on building a self-managed women's economy. This is intended to ensure self-sufficiency and empower women.
JINWAR is the only village in the Middle East where only women live. It was opened on 25 November 2018 on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Mutual support has expanded: from the families, the neighborhoods, friends in the region to all around the world. People self-organizing have proved once more the strength that we, the people, have. This proves the necessity to recover the trust in our capacities; the ability to reflect, overcome and solve problems together; the awareness of our interconnections; the relations and actions that put them into practice; the questioning of our real necessities and aims connected to life.
About 100 women, who participate in the Demsal Project launched by the Kongra Star Economy Committee in the town of Tirbespiyê, provide agricultural and dairy products to the people of the town.
Kongra Star Economy Committee in Hasakah started Demsal Cooperative promoting women’s economic empowerment for the socioeconomic development and building a free and democratic society.
The “Damsal Greenhouse” project was launched in 2015 and covers a large part of the needs of the local market for vegetables, especially in winter.
The cooperative Demsal is a project of the women's economy committee of the women's movement Kongra Star. The cooperative has been active since 2015 and the agricultural process is constantly being expanded to give women the opportunity to take their lives into their own hands.
A model of women's economy is under construction in Rojava and northern and eastern Syria. Half of the agricultural land is now farmed by women's cooperatives.
