Turkish Armed Forces seeks female fighters - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Amberin Zaman

Amberin Zaman

Dec 18, 2017

Women Turkish army officers hold their swords to salute President Ahmet
Necdet Sezer as they parade during a ceremony August 30, 2001, marking the
79th anniversary of Victory Day which is celebrated throughout the country.
Victory day marks the last and biggest attack to drive the Greek army out of
the country during the five year long Independence War after the Ottoman
empire had collapsed. Ataturk founded the Turkish republic in 1923 following
the independence war. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas

FS - RP2DRIEFZUAA — Female Turkish army officers hold their swords to salute then-President Ahmet Necdet Sezer as they parade during a ceremony, Aug. 30, 2001. — REUTERS/Fatih Saribas

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been fighting the Turkish army initially for independence and later for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey for the past 33 years. One of the hallmarks of the group is that it has succeeded in prizing away thousands of women from the clutches of patriarchy and into the battlefield.

Now the Turkish army, it seems, is preparing to respond in kind.

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