Remziye Mohammed: they want to create dark model by excluding women

Following the January 29, 2026 agreement between the transitional government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), integration efforts began. Before the agreement, women in North and East Syria were actively participating in politics, defense, society, and the judiciary. Now, however, the transitional government is seeking to exclude women from various spheres of life and remove them from many institutions.

On this issue, we conducted an interview with the co-chair of the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM), Remziye Mohammed.

Interview:

“There are problems with the integration efforts”

1. How has the integration process been progressing recently, and what is the status of women in this process?

This year, joint work began between the Autonomous Administration and the Syrian transitional government. According to the January 29 agreement, it is an agreement aimed at ensuring that the Kurdish people and the peoples of Syria find their place together within all state institutions, and that a government is built jointly and fairly.

There are problems with the steps being taken, specifically with regard to women. The Rojava Revolution was known as the women’s revolution, and women were represented in all fields and were able to assume roles at the highest levels. But in this process of consensus, we do not see women present. Rather, women are being treated as though their role is secondary.

In the field of justice, their presence is not visible in institutions or in decision-making positions. They are not being accepted, particularly in positions of decision-making authority.

Women may have secured positions in some institutions, perhaps merely to be able to say, “There is democracy,” but so far there has been nothing official regarding the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), the force that defended the Rojava Revolution and defended the entire world against forces such as ISIS/Daesh. They achieved tremendous accomplishments through great resistance and sacrifice.

Even within the Internal Security Forces, the role of women has not yet been officially recognized. This shows that they are placing obstacles in the way of women. In the new system, we do not see democracy. We are not in the eighteenth century, and the historic role played by women cannot be ignored.

“A Syrian Women’s Union must be established”

2. There is a widespread perception regarding the new Syria that women are being excluded from the process. How do you assess this issue?

Ultimately, they want to remove women from this process. They portray women as incapable of managing governance and work. But at the same time, there is great determination and struggle.

Even the women who currently hold positions within institutions reached those positions through significant struggle and sustained determination. But this is not enough. Every woman must participate with determination and through great struggle.

Decisions and laws made against women should not be accepted. We need struggle and determination, as well as solidarity among women inside Syria.

Women have not merely been marginalized and left without agency in Rojava; the same situation exists in different parts of Syria. It is true that we made a revolution, but its gains have not yet been fully secured and permanently guaranteed.

3. During the integration process, women were excluded from some administrative and civil positions. In your view, why did this happen, and what are the reasons behind it?

The reason is that the nation-state system does not accept women’s will, and the presence of women in positions of power is largely incompatible with the interests of this system.

Women always seek to serve society and advance its interests. In contrast, the nation-state system does not want democracy, justice, or equality, nor does it accept women’s diversity or linguistic and cultural pluralism.

Women’s efforts, however, aim to revive the culture of the entire region. Women defended their language and culture in the face of genocide, and this is part of their struggle.

When women were leaders in the Rojava Revolution, they were always targeted. Many of our female leaders were martyred and deliberately targeted. Even women in their seventies who played active roles in their communities were targeted.

This is not limited to Syria. There are efforts to turn Syria into a model to be followed and to return us to the years when male authority prevailed at the expense of women’s achievements. They are also seeking to impose a uniform model on Syria.

“If this situation continues, it will lead to civil war”

4. What will the continuation of this policy lead to, and what threats does it pose to women’s achievements?

These exclusionary policies will lead to the outbreak of civil war. Since the beginning of the revolution, the goal of the nation-state system has been to ignite a civil war, but this goal was not achieved.

For many reasons, they are now also attempting to impose the reality they want and build a system based on exclusion.

They will commit massacres against these communities, but women and society will no longer accept these policies. All the communities living in Syria reject this enslavement.

Our revolution has become a model for social leadership and a model of social pluralism, and it has demonstrated that a democratic society is capable of building a new Syria.

“Joint struggle is necessary”

5. How should women confront these policies?

The darkness they are seeking to create in order to obstruct women’s progress can be defeated through the unity of Syrian women, as demonstrated by the experience of the Autonomous Administration.

Most importantly, we must build women’s unity in Syria, preserve the legacy of the martyrs, and safeguard their sacrifices.

This struggle is not only for the Kurdish people, but for all the peoples of Syria. If I, as a Kurdish woman, am not free, Arab women will not be free either.

Therefore, the unity of women and the unification of their struggle can protect women’s gains.

6. How do you assess the silence of international human rights and women’s rights organizations?

Before the transitional government came to power, many human rights organizations used to visit the region. But after it came to power, these organizations remained silent.

The transitional government did not come to power of its own accord; rather, it came to power through the intervention of international powers. These organizations were appointed to serve the interests of those states and are, in turn, subject to their policies.

When it comes to the freedom of communities and women, these organizations turn a blind eye and act according to their own interests. They may even resort to igniting an all-out war if their interests require it.

ANHA