On 2 March 2026, Iraqi women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed was assassinated outside her home in Baghdad. This is not an isolated incident. Time and again, women who play a leading role in society are targeted and murdered. Examples include Rosa Luxemburg, Nagihan Arkasel, Jiyan Tolhildan, Sakine Canzis and Berta Caceres, who represent thousands of women. These are not attacks against individual women, but rather attacks against the goals of freedom, equality and the vision that another world is possible. A vision and a struggle that is particularly significant in these days, when the attempt to create a new Middle East is no less important.   Yanar Mohammed, who was born in Baghdad in 1960 and lived in Toronto for several years, was an architect, human rights activist and one of Iraq’s most prominent feminist voices. She was a co-founder of the Organisation Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) and campaigned for democracy, women’s rights and social justice for many years. She was particularly committed to helping women who were victims of violence, forced marriage and human trafficking. With her help, shelters were set up where hundreds of women found refuge. Despite repeated threats and public incitement, she continued her work unabated. We remember her and we know that her path will be continued by thousands. The spirit and struggle of free women cannot be killed.

The revolution in Rojava/ North and East Syria is entering its 13th year of existence, driven by the pioneering role of the Women’s Protection Units, which have taken a heavy burden on them in order to protect the peoples of the region. The YPJ has resisted all occupying forces and militias, and became a source of inspiration and great strength for all women around the world to stand up against all kinds of attacks. The occupying Turkish state, which bases its existence on the extinction of the Kurdish people and the revolution, has seen the revolution from its beginning as a threat to itself, thus carrying out numerous attacks in order to obstruct and weaken the revolution from progressing. Feeling particularly threatened by the fact that this is a women’s revolution in its truest sense, the Turkish state has been especially targeting women and the leaders of this revolution. All courage, sacrifice, and hard work of the past 12 years have been made to protect all women in the world and humanity itself. The fighters and commanders of YPJ are not simply in their skills of warfare but also due to their ideological and political stance an example for all women to struggle against the consciousness of the dominant men, capitalist and hegemonic forces on multiple fronts. In this regard, targeting YPJ fighters and commanders does not mean to simply target the military defense of North and East Syria, the protection of the people, but the revolution as a whole. In this brochure, we want to shed light on the lives of the YPJ fighters and commanders who were martyred in the year 2024 in assassinations by the Turkish state. You can read and download the full brochure here.