21/01/2026 | Writer: Kaos GL
Women and LGBTI+ people came together to protest attacks targeting the Kurdish people in Rojava.
Photo by: Eylem Nazlıer/Evrensel (“Support for HTS gangs means massacre in Syria; women stand with the Kurdish people who resist”)
At the call of the The Women’s Initiative ‘I Need Peace’, women and LGBTI+ people held press statements in Istanbul, in front of the Syrian Consulate, and in Ankara, in front of the Human Rights Monument, to protest attacks targeting the Kurdish people in Rojava.
At both protests a banner reading “Support for HTS gangs means massacre in Syria; women stand with the Kurdish people who resist” was unfurled.
According to Evrensel reporter Eylem Nazlıer; protesters frequently chanted slogans including “Long live women’s solidarity,” “No to war, peace now,” and ““Rojava’ya me ye, rûmeta me ye.”
“Women are being deliberately and systematically targeted”
The press statement noted that HTS has continued its attacks across Syria, targeting not only Kurds but also Alawites, Assyrian, and Druze communities. It stated that the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods of Aleppo were subjected to days of bombardment, that civilian areas were targeted with heavy weapons, and that many people were displaced and forcibly uprooted, emphasizing that these acts clearly constitute war crimes.
Women and LGBTI+ people drew attention to HTS’s attacks on women. The statement said that the circulation of footage showing women who resisted being thrown from buildings demonstrates that women are being deliberately and systematically targeted. It added that efforts to portray HTS today as a “legitimate” actor cannot be separated from ISIS’s past policies of enslavement and massacre targeting Yazidi women.
The statement criticized European countries for their silence in the face of HTS, despite their rhetoric on “women’s rights” and “democracy,” arguing that this stance effectively amounts to an endorsement of the massacres. It emphasized that the attacks carried out by HTS are part of long-term policies aimed at displacing Kurds and other communities.
“Lasting peace must be ensured”
Women and LGBTI+ people said they do not accept the continuation of sieges or the spread of attacks to other regions, even though clashes in Aleppo have subsided, and called for lasting peace. The statement stressed that peace is only possible through a democratic constitutional order that guarantees equal citizenship and rights for Kurds, Alawites, Druze, and Christians.
The statement also drew attention to the suppression of demands for peace in Turkey, noting that detentions and arrests during press statements protesting the attacks on Aleppo threaten freedom of expression. Declaring that “defending peace is not a crime,” it said that the criminalization of calls for peace prevents peace from becoming a broad social demand both in Turkey and across the region.
The press statement concluded with the words: “As women, we raise our voices to put an end to the massacres targeting Kurds, Alawites, Assyrians, and Druze; we are expanding our shared struggle in solidarity with women who resist.”
Tags: human rights, women, life, trans, lgbti
