When asked what motivated them to
dive into one of the fiercest battles against the terror group to date, the
women said they did it both for the Kurdish cause and to liberate the women of
Raqqa.
ISIS ruled the Syrian city with a
barbarity that gripped the world, and women in particular experienced an
oppression many never thought imaginable.
They were forced to cover their
bodies head to toe or risk public lashings. ISIS also captured and sold girls
and women as sex slaves, particularly Kurdish-Yazidi minority women trafficked
into Raqqa from northern Iraq.
After Tuesday's announcement that
ISIS had been defeated, the Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ) vowed to
keep on fighting, many lamenting the 30 women they lost in the operation.
"As the YPJ we vow that will
continue this path, go after terrorism where it is in our country, avenge all
women victims in the world and continue the message of our martyred
comrades," the YPJ said in a statement.
Here's what some of the YPJ fighters
said.
Shanda Afreen has been fighting ISIS
for four years.
"The leader -- Abdullah Ocalan
-- has concentrated on women's freedom, so we are fighting to free women and to
liberate people mentally. Our fight is not only against ISIS, our fight is
against the chauvinist mentality against women," Afreen said.
"Evil is not only from ISIS men
-- evil could come from women. Women need to educate themselves and evolve
ideologically."
Abdullah Ocalan is the jailed
founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party -- or PKK -- a separatist group that
Turkey, the United States and the European Union regard as a terrorist
organization. Kurdish fighters raised a flag bearing Ocalan's face in central
Raqqa earlier this week.
Avrim Difram was still a teenager
when she started fighting against ISIS three years ago, and now at the age of
20, she recalls losing several fellow fighters. But it has made her all the
more determined to keep fighting.
"We are fighting to free the
people who are under oppression and to free the leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is
imprisoned in Turkey," she told CNN.
"Women were especially
oppressed by ISIS in Raqqa. That's another reason why we fight ISIS -- we
wanted to free women from oppression."
Wulat Romin, 24, has been fighting
ISIS for a year and half, joining the battle in Raqqa, Tabqa and Al-Hol.
"I fight for the freedom of the
Kurdish people. I fight against injustice, for righteousness in general,"
she said.
"And I fight for the freedom of
women in particular."
Sozdar Derik has been fighting ISIS
for six years.
"I am fighting against the big
oppression that has befallen our homeland and our women. These people -- ISIS
-- see women as sex objects, as sub-human," she said. "We fight
against that."
(Arwa Damon, CNN)
*Interestingly enough, ISIS fighters believe that if they are killed by a woman in battle, they will be denied the opportunity to live in heaven with 7 beautiful virgins. (I expect these Kurdish women were sure to leave some indication on each ISIS soldier that the man was killed by a female).
*Interestingly enough, ISIS fighters believe that if they are killed by a woman in battle, they will be denied the opportunity to live in heaven with 7 beautiful virgins. (I expect these Kurdish women were sure to leave some indication on each ISIS soldier that the man was killed by a female).
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