PDKI at the European Parliament: “Woman, Life, Freedom” Is the Roadmap for Kurdistan’s Future

On Wednesday, 10 June 2026, the European Parliament in Brussels hosted a special conference titled ‘The Future of Kurdistan and the Role of Women’, with representatives of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan and other Kurdish political and civil society organisations in attendance. The event focused on the future of democracy, coexistence and gender equality in Kurdistan and Iran.

Initiated by Alessandra Moretti, a Member of the European Parliament, the conference featured a keynote address by Dr Kwestan Gadani, Head of the Central Executive Committee of the PDKI Abroad. Dr Gadani led the party’s delegation and delivered a speech in English.

In her speech, Dr Gadani emphasised that genuine coexistence requires far more than the absence of violence. She argued that lasting peace and stability could only be achieved through the recognition of ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious diversity, and through the creation of a political order based on equality, dignity and democratic participation.

‘True coexistence begins when no citizen feels like a second-class citizen,’ she stated, emphasising that Iran’s future depends on recognising its multinational, multilingual, and multicultural reality. She also added that democracy and national rights are inseparable and that a sustainable democratic future cannot be built while millions of people are denied equal recognition of their language, culture and identity.

Dr. Gadani also highlighted the PDKI’s commitment to democracy and national rights spanning more than eighty years, recalling the political legacy of the party’s late leaders, Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and Dr. Sadegh Sharafkandi. She noted that their vision was founded on the belief that democracy cannot be secured without recognising the rights of all national communities and that national rights cannot be guaranteed without democracy.

A central theme of Dr. Gadani’s speech was the role of women as a driving force for democratic change. She praised the contributions of Kurdish women in Kurdistan and across the diaspora, describing them as leaders, activists, educators, journalists, human rights defenders, and key agents of social and political transformation.

Referring to the historic uprising that followed the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman from Saqqez, Dr Gadani noted that the slogan ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadî’ (Woman, Life, Freedom) had become a powerful and universal call for justice, equality and democratic change. She emphasised that the movement demonstrated the inseparable connection between women’s rights, democracy, and human dignity.

Dr. Gadani further emphasised that Kurdish women have played a unique role in linking the struggle for gender equality with broader struggles for democracy, social justice and national rights. “Freedom is indivisible,” she argued, explaining that these causes are not separate struggles but different dimensions of the same pursuit of human dignity.

She also highlighted the important contributions of Kurdish women in the diaspora, whose work in academia, research, journalism, politics, human rights advocacy, and civil society has amplified Kurdish voices internationally and helped build networks of solidarity based on equality, justice, democratic participation, and mutual support.

In conclusion, Dr Gadani stated that peace requires justice, justice requires equality, and equality requires participation. She argued that no democratic future can be built while women remain marginalised, and that no lasting coexistence can be achieved without recognising the rights of all peoples and communities.

She reaffirmed the PDKI’s vision of a future for Kurdistan and Iran that is founded on freedom, democracy, equality, pluralism and mutual respect – a future in which diversity is embraced rather than feared, and where all citizens, regardless of nationality, language, religion or gender, enjoy equal rights and opportunities.