6 Women's Organizations of Sanandaj, Saqqez, Mariwan; Bloody Crackdown is Condemned and "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" Continues Until the End of Tyranny

January 7, 2026; On Tuesday, January 6, 2026, six women's organizations in the cities of Sanandaj, Saqqez, and Mariwan issued a statement declaring that they strongly condemn the violent and bloody crackdown on the protests of January 2026, particularly in the provinces of Ilam and Kermanshah. They emphasized that these protests are a direct continuation of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement; a movement that emphasizes social life, livelihood, and the right to live freely. The statement mentions that citizens who have taken to the streets due to the livelihood crisis and structural discriminations are neither “rioters” nor threats to security, but rather carriers of demands for freedom, equality, and human dignity who have been met with a violent response from the government.

In this statement, the Kurdistan women's organizations emphasized that the crackdown on protests is part of a systematic policy to maintain power through violence; a policy that specifically targets the bodies, lives, and voices of women. They noted that women have played a leading role in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, and today's repression in Ilam, Kermanshah, and other cities of Kurdistan is a continuation of the same policy of gender discrimination, the removal of women from the public sphere, and the denial of the right to equal participation, which has now led to detentions, direct shooting, and street intimidation.

In the final section of this statement, these organizations emphasized their unconditional solidarity with all protesters and considered silence in the face of government violence to be complicity with it. They stated that the struggle of the people, especially women, is not to replace one form of tyranny with another, but to move past all forms of domination and discrimination. They called for an immediate end to the crackdown, recognition of the right to protest, organization, and self-determination, and the building of a future based on freedom, equality, and human dignity.

The full text of the statement from these six women's organizations is as follows:

“Joint Statement of Six Kurdistan Women's Organizations (Sanandaj, Saqqez, Mariwan)

We, the community of women of Kurdistan Rojhelat, strongly condemn the massacre and violent crackdown on the protests of January 2026, especially the suppression of the defenseless people of Ilam and Kermanshah. These protests are a continuation of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, which emphasizes social life, livelihood, and the right to live, and continues today in streets and neighborhoods across Iran. What is happening in Iran is the result of violent and systematic policies to maintain power; a policy that perceives peaceful protests as a threat and seeks to extinguish the cry for life with bullets and prison. People who have taken to the streets due to the livelihood crisis and structural discriminations are neither “rioters” nor “security threats,” but are carriers of the demand of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement: the right to live with freedom, equality, and human dignity.

The “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement taught us that freedom comes from collective will, and to stop the cycle of repression, society must be conscious, united, and organized. The women of Kurdistan were leaders in this movement, and the protests in Ilam, Kermanshah, and other cities of Kurdistan are a continuation of that same path. We women, who have always stood at the front lines of the struggle against religious tyranny, know how this political structure targets the bodies, lives, and voices of the people, especially women. The suppression of protests is the continuation of a policy that began with gender discrimination, the exclusion of women from power, and the denial of the right to equal participation, and has now reached street suppression.

The Kurdistan women's community emphasizes its unconditional solidarity with all the people who have bravely stood up for their rights and believes that the right to protest, organization, and self-determination is our inalienable right. We consider silence in the face of the government's violence to be complicity with it. Every bullet fired and every detention made indicates the fear of the rulers toward a conscious and united society.

History has shown that tyrannical governments do not simply collapse, but they are unable to survive through violence. Freedom, although costly, will be achieved through a continuous and steadfast struggle, as it is rooted in the collective will of a people who are no longer willing to remain silent or surrender. A free and democratic future takes shape from the heart of conscious resistance, social solidarity, and the struggle for equality and justice.

Furthermore, we emphasize that monarchism itself is a serious danger to social solidarity and the struggles of the oppressed people of Iran. This current presents itself as an “alternative,” but in reality, it continues to reproduce the same relations of repression, discrimination, and exclusion. By distorting the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” into “Man, Homeland, Prosperity” and denying the rights of women and minorities, monarchism is attempting to continue the same old policies.

The struggle of the people of Kurdistan, and especially women, is not for the replacement of one type of tyranny with another, but for the dismantling of the cycle of centralized and patriarchal power. Monarchism tries to continue repression, discrimination, and the denial of national and gender identities, just as it denied the right to self-determination, language, culture, and independent organization of the people of Kurdistan in the past.

For us Kurdish women, freedom is not a decorative concept or a promise from above. Freedom erupts from the heart of collective, organized, and rooted struggle; not from a return to structures built on the exclusion of women’s voices, the concentration of power, and the suppression of diversity. Any movement that emphasizes “blood,” “lineage,” “leader,” or “hereditary authority” instead of accountability is in direct conflict with the freedom-seeking ideals of the people.

We decisively declare that neither the Islamic Republic nor the Monarchy, in whatever mold or face they impose themselves, represents the liberation of the people of Iran, especially women. Both are based on the denial of the right to free choice, the suppression of protest, and the removal of independent voices. Today's movement in Iran is not a movement of returning to the past; rather, it is a movement of moving past all forms of tyranny.

The Kurdistan women's community believes that a free, just, and human future will only be built through the path of radical democracy, gender equality, the recognition of the right of nations to self-determination, and the genuine participation of the people. We will not allow the blood of the victims, the suffering of the prisoners, and the cries of the protesters to become tools for legitimizing projects that ultimately reproduce the same logic of domination. This struggle is not for seating another form of tyranny, but for the empowerment of the people and especially women, and it is a path that will continue with freedom, equality, and the genuine solidarity of the people.”