The Women’s Protection Unit Fighting ISIL

On November 1, 2014, protesters worldwide took part in World-Kobanê-Day demonstrations, condemning ISIL’s attacks on the Turkish-Syrian border town of Kobane. They did so to declare solidarity with active resistance factions in the region, the most famous of which was, and still is, the YPJ.

Who are the YPJ?

Founded and organized in 2012, the YPJ, also known as the Women’s Protection Unit, is an all-female militia operative in the Rojava region. This region, with a population of 4.6 million, is a de facto autonomous state not recognized by the Syrian government.

The citizens of Rojava refused to be “Arabized” by the Ba’ath Regime, which had long sought to suppress the identity of the 4 million Kurds in Syria. In 2011, when Tunisian and Egyptian opposition groups formed and mounted insurgencies in what was known as the “Arab Spring,” so did defiant Syrians. This instigated a civil war. In 2012, the regime’s authority crumpled in the Rojava region, leaving “Rojavans” (a mostly Kurdish population, though there are Turks, Arabs, Chechens, and Assyrians) with a dismal choice to make: They could either align themselves with their persecutors, the Ba’ath Regime, or they could join the Islamic militant groups.

They chose neither.

What does the YPJ do?

Emerging from the Kurdish Resistance Movement, the YPJ serves to protect Rojava not just from the Islamic State, but from al-Qaeda and Bashir al-Assad’s Syrian government. Currently, the group fights alongside their male counterpart, the YPG, and the Kurdish Pershmenga, primarily in the small Turkish-Syrian border town of Kobane. YPJ has over 7,000 volunteer women fighters ranging in age from 18-40. Though children are not permitted to actively fight on the frontlines, they are permitted to join and train.

Why are they fighting?

To understand the fight, one must first learn about the politics of the Rojava region. As stated in The Social Contract of Rojava Cantons in Syria Preamble:

We, the people of the Democratic Autonomous Regions of Afrin, Jazira and Kobane, a confederation of Kurds, Arabs, Syrics, Arameans, Turkmen, Armenians and Chechens, freely and solemnly declare and establish this Charter.

In pursuit of freedom, justice, dignity and democracy and led by principles of equality and environmental sustainability, the Charter proclaims a new social contract, based upon mutual and peaceful coexistence and understanding between all strands of society. It protects fundamental human rights and liberties and reaffirms the peoples’ right to self-determination.

That’s right, Rojava seeks to maintain a democratic society in the heart of the Middle East.

How the YPJ represents gender at the heart of the battle

The Rojava Revolution is very much a women’s revolution. The patriarchal oppression in this part of the world often means, for women, a life of abuse, polygamy, and childhood marriages. But because of this revolution, a former guerrilla female fighter, for example, now oversees the Cizire Canton (one of three interior regions within Rojava) alongside an Arab chieftain.

What’s the life of a YPJ fighter like?

On September 30, 2014, Marie Claire published an article on the YPJ as documented by photographer Erin Trieb. In this article, YPJ member, Evin Ahmed, 26, states, “I love being a YPJ soldier, I love the other soldiers, we are closer than sisters. This is the only life for me. I can’t imagine living any other way.”

The piece goes on to describe how all members of the YPJ, who live by a code of honesty, morals, and justice, echo this sentiment. “Their motto is ‘Haval’ or ‘friendship,'” explains Trieb, “and is of utmost importance to them. They treat each other (and treated me) with a sense of solidarity and sisterhood. They address each other as Haval, and when they spoke to me, they would call me ‘Haval Erin’. It enforces a constant sense of belonging and support.”

These women are regarded by their male counterparts as equally disciplined and determined. In fact, they may be even more threatening to ISIL members. Trieb states, “The saying among many Syrian Kurds is that ISIS is more terrified of being killed by women because if they are, they will not go to heaven.”

What is happening now with the YPJ in Rojava?

In an article initially published Özgür Gündem, as of February 9, 2015 (their latest article to date), the YPJ and YPG continue to “clear remaining ISIS elements from the villages around Kobanê.”

On that same day, the 146th day of fighting around Kobanê, 19 more villages were liberated from ISIS over the past 24 hours, though two YPG fighters lost their lives in the fighting.

You can learn more about and even connect with The Kurdish Female Fighters YPJ on their Facebook page here.

Header image credit: People’s Daily Online