Why Is The YPJ Important To The Success Of The Kurdish Movement

The Kurdish Movement has been shaped by a great number of extraneous circumstances and for the Kurds it has truly become a movement of necessity in light of recent events. Furthermore, conflict has brought about significant change in regard to the rights of women in the region. The YPJ or women’s protection units have seen a remarkable rise in the face of rebellion and the sprawl of the Islamic states caliphate. Many reports have even gone as far as saying that ISIS fighters fear the YPJ the most, because death at the hands of a woman would deprive them of paradise. The goal of this paper is to highlight how pivotal the role of the YPJ is to the success of the Kurdish movement and the accompanying rise of women’s rights within the movement.

Looking into the history of the Kurds and their political parties it is easy to see how they were influenced. A primary contributor to this influence is the Syrian government's authoritative tendencies in regard to regional politics. The Kurdish populace receives treatment that on good day could be called tolerance and on a bad day represents oppression and exploitation. Paasch alludes, “ . . . the Syrian government used the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a proxy to wage war in response to Turkey's water-dam politics that left Syria vulnerable to droughts” (1). Under a political climate that is unstable at best the Kurds have had to overcome adversity at every

The PYD is largely affiliated and draws a lot of influence from the PKK. It is important however, to make a distinction between the two organizations not only because the PKK is based out of Turkey but also because the PYD is trying to enact very different outcomes in Syria. In an interview with Salih Muslim (Leader of the PYD) he explains, “We are separate organizations. But a resumption of the peace process in Turkey would be to the benefit of all. Any escalation of the conflict (in Turkey) would be to the detriment of all. Aren’t the Kurds who embrace Apo’s [Abdullah Ocalan’s nickname] philosophy the ones who are the most effective fighting force against Daesh” (Zaman 1)? The PYD values diplomacy with the international community as a means recognition of their sovereignty and utilizes their efforts against Daesh as common ground to gain support. Another reason for the PYD to distance themselves from the PKK is, because Turkey (a NATO member) and its allies have labeled the PKK as a terrorist group because of various tactics utilized in the past and present. This makes for a precarious situation when the PYD is trying to rally the support of the international