The Van-based Arsisa Society for the Study of Kurdish Language, Culture and Art hosted a memorial evening about Cegerxwîn in cooperation with the literary magazine Destar. The occasion was the upcoming anniversary of the death of the writer and “Poet of Freedom”, who died in his Swedish exile on 22 October 1984.

Under the title “A revolutionary poet: Cegerxwîn”, literary critic Romîna Aso, author Heval Dilbahar and the cultural activist Kendal Nizar spoke about the life and work of Cegerxwîn.

Cegerxwîn, which means “within bleeding from suffering,” saw the world as a place where life meant pain and the pursuit of freedom, and that is why he loved it. His life was painful because he lost both parents when he was a child. He was considered a rebel early on because, as a teenager, he turned against the feudal structures within Kurdish society and repeatedly expressed his criticism of the ruling Aghas and Begs, but also of the religious aristocracy (sheikhs and mullahs) in poems.

Early resistance: fight against feudal lords and mullahs

Dilbahar said: “Cegerxwîn blamed these feudal lords and religious aristocrats for the misfortunes of the Kurdish farmers and workers. He accused them of torpedoing the achievement of Kurdish national consciousness.”. The enlightenment of Kurdish society with regard to the prevailing conditions was essential for Cegerxîn, which is why his first critical poems were directed against the powerful clergy. Almost all of the texts he wrote were about revolution, the oppression of the people, love, resistance and pain, separation from home, hopelessness and life.

Dilbahar said: “Cegerxwîn was a revolutionary, not only because of his critical poems, but also because he was a pioneer in the social upheaval in Kurdistan in the 20th century and led the national liberation struggle.”

Impulse for the emancipation and equality of women

Romîna Aso analyzed the poet's approach to women and the “women's question” in Kurdistan. Cegerxwîn is known for his influence on the Kurdish cause and the struggle for liberation, but what is less known is his role as an early impetus for the emancipation and equality of women.

Aso said: “He called on men to question the patriarchy in all areas of society. He demanded that they turn away from feudal structures and consistently work for the emancipation and empowerment of women on all fronts. He always called on women to never accept injustice and to fight for their freedom. We can read this in many of his poems, such as Keça Kurd [Kurdish Girl].”

Cegerxwîn

Cegerxwîn, whose real name was Şehmus Hasan (Şêxmûs Hesen), was born in 1903 in the village of Hesarê (Hisar) in North Kurdistan - hence his nickname Hesarî. At that time, the place belonged to Mêrdîn (Mardin). Today the village is a municipality of Êlih (Batman).

In 1914, Cegerxwîn followed his sister and her family from the fighting of the First World War to Derîk in Rojava. Little is known about about six years of his early life, including his time in Derîk. However, the years there must have been very formative for Cegerxwîn's sense of justice and freedom. Through his work as a farm worker and shepherd, he soon came into conflict with the Agas and Mullahs. He tried to get by as a laborer in agriculture. But it didn't help at all. He couldn't find a livelihood anymore.

Cegerxwîn separated from the village and Agas, began moving from place to place and reciting poems. He is said to have ended up in Amûdê at the end of the First World War. There he witnessed the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. The mandated powers drew new borders and so he was initially cut off from the place of his birth.

At the age of eighteen, Ceqerxwîn attended a madrassa (Quran school) and was instructed in religion for almost nine years. In Amed (Diyarbakir), his teachers were distinguished scholars such as Meleyê Serî Jêkirî and Seydayê Mele Iskender (1898–1928) from the famous Botan tribe. His companion was the writer Mele Abdurrahmanê Sorikî. During this time, Cegerxwîn began to write poems that dealt with the harsh reality of life in Kurdistan. In them he reflected the feudal exploitation by the Agas, who, as big landowners, were also masters of the people in their possessions. At that time, he had already carried forward the ideas of Kurdish national liberation as well as the values of Kurdish tradition, history and art with his poetry.

The Kurdish uprising of Şêx Seîdê Pîran (Sheikh Said) in 1925 was followed by harsh repression and persecution. Many sheikhs and spiritual scholars in the area had joined the uprising and dragged their students into the uprising movement. After the bloody crackdown, Cegerxwîn's teacher, Mele Iskender, was arrested in 1926, contracted tuberculosis and died.

Cegerxwîn's friend Mele Sorikî was able to escape. He was also able to save himself. First he fled to Cizîrê, later to Qamişlo in the western part of Kurdistan known as the “Little South”. There he was able to publish his first poems in the magazine Hawar. This was headed by Celadet Bedîrxan, who, together with his brother, published the first Kurdish newspaper in Cairo in 1898 and from 1927 tried to unite the Kurdish intellectuals in Xoybûn society.

Since then, Şehmus Hasan Hesarî has used the pseudonym Cegerxwîn, which means bleeding heart / inside.

After the Second World War, Cegerxwîn founded the Movement for Freedom and Unity of Kurds (Civata Azadî û Yekîtiya Kurd) in Cizîrê with other Kurdish intellectuals, which was later transformed into the Turkey branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP-T), in which, however maintained their independence. From 1949 to 1957, Cegerxwîn was a member of the Syrian Communist Party, in which Kurds traditionally held a number of leading positions.

Cegerxwîn was also persecuted in Syria and fled to Baghdad in 1958, where he became a member of the teaching staff at the Faculty of Kurdish Language and Literature at the university there in 1959. He was able to publish his first dictionary of Kurdish in Latin alphabet and worked in Mullah Mistefa Barzani's KDP. He only stayed there for three years and then returned to Qamishlo due to increasing repression. But here too he was arrested, tortured and interrogated numerous times. After Barzani's KDP split, he founded the Kurdish Democratic Party (Syria) with a few like-minded people, which he remained associated with until his death.

In 1970 he fled to Lebanon, from where he emigrated to Sweden in 1979 at the age of 76.

Cegerxwîn died in Sweden on 22 October 1984 and left behind an important work for all Kurds. His coffin was brought to Qamishlo and buried in the garden of his old house with the participation of around a hundred thousand Kurds, Assyrians, Arabs and Armenians.