Kurdish People's Democratic Assembly at the SNP Conference, Edinburgh

I attended the SNP conference representing the Young European Movement (YEM) last weekend, and got talking to the stall opposite - the Kurdish People's Democratic Assembly of Britain.

I was drawn to the stall for two reasons, firstly the propagandist poster 'FREEDOM FOR ÖCALAN' instantly picqued my interest and got me googling who he is; secondly, the beautiful textiles they had laid out alongside their books. However, being overly shy, I didn't go over to speak to them at first, they came over to our stall and we swapped leaflets. YEM's leaflet, which I designed, had a campaign against Gender Based Violence (which has recently been declared a national emergency) and the lady from the Kurdish stall instantly returned with a booklet 'Liberating Life: woman's Revolution' by Abdullah Öcalan, which I was fascinated to read. They told me that women's liberation was at the forefront of the Kurdish freedom movement.

I had a long chat with them about Kurdistan which isnt a country but a roughly defined Geographic area, spanning Turkey, Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Öcalan is the leader of the Kurdistan Worker's Party and was imprisoned and contact has since been lost.

I asked them about the textiles on their stall, and the meaning behind the colours in the braided rope. They told me that the colours came from the flag of Kuridstan; Green symbolises life, red symbolises the struggle and yellow symbolises enlightenment. After filming this video she insisted I take the rope.

I asked about the beautiful pink and red beaded scarves and if I could buy one. I was told these are traditional scarves for the Kurdish warrior women and they are often pictured wearing them in battle against Isis. I love it so much and will treasure it.

I told them about my MA research interests and we also discussed the flag of Kurdistan and symbols. The flag features the sunshine which represents enlightenment, the white represents peace. But we also talked about snakes and how in their culture they do not represent evil/tempatation/sin but knowledge and wisdom.