Women of Euphrates Canton recall fifth anniversary of Helinje Massacre
On June 23, 2025, women from the Euphrates Canton held a symbolic event in the village of Helinje, near the city of Kobani, to mark the fifth anniversary of the 2020 massacre perpetrated by Turkish occupation forces’ drones. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of three prominent leaders of the Kurdish women’s movement.
The event, attended by dozens of women, took place at the site of the massacre, where candles were lit in honor of the fallen martyrs: Zehra Barkal, Amina Waysi, and Hibun Mulla Khalil. Participants observed a minute of silence in front of their portraits.
During the ceremony, Mazkin Khalil, the Co-Chair of the Autonomous Administration in the Euphrates Canton, delivered a speech, stating: “My mother, one of the victims of this massacre, was a paragon of both motherhood and resistance. The oppressors sought to impose the garb of subjugation on women, but women inspired by the thought and philosophy of leader Abdullah Ocalan refuse to submit. They have become beacons of freedom.”
On June 23, 2020, a Turkish drone targeted a house in Helinje village, killing three key figures of Kongra Star, the leading women’s movement in North and East Syria. The attack was widely regarded as a deliberate attempt to undermine the political and organizational will of Kurdish women
The martyrs are revered as symbols of the struggle for women’s liberation. Their assassination sparked widespread local and international condemnation and marked a turning point in the escalation of Turkish attacks on civil society leaders and Autonomous Administrations in North and East Syria.
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ANHA
