In the mountains of Kurdistan, the guerrillas of the HPG (Hêzên Parastina Gel - People's Defense Forces) and YJA-Star (Yekîtîya Jinên Azad-Star - Free Women' sUnion-Star) are developing their duties during the enemy's on-going attacks. Guerrilla fighters, for example, continue to train in their academies. One of these academies is the Health Academy Mehmet Hayri Durmuş. Durmuş was a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and also a doctor. The friends in the guerrillas, who continue their fight in the footsteps of these pioneers, follow the path of Mehmet Hayri Durmuş by training them at the health academy.

"For the health care the academy is a big step"

Guerrilla fighter Avaşîn Delîla from the current course of the Health Academy Mehmet Hayri Durmuş explains it this way: "To take a seat in this academy means a very big responsibility for me. It is well known that Comrade Hayri studied medicine himself. On this basis, we participate in this training. It is an important and great task that we have taken on. In terms of health care, this academy offers great opportunities. In the future we will know how we can help our friends in the mountains. This is a great job and it is of great value. That's why I want to develop myself at the academy.”

Delîla makes clear the importance of the work brought to them by Heval (Comrade) Hayri and Heval Dilpak. She wants to follow her example and explains: "We want to be able to give a strong answer in the future. When we first heard the name of Heval Hayri, it gave us a lot of power. We want to intensify the resistance that has arisen in the prisons. It is our goal to take on responsibility in the sense of these friends after completing the training at the academy.”

Difference between the educational work of the PKK and that of the system

Another participant in the training at the Academy is the guerrilla Azê Serhed. She recognizes the difference between the training method of the PKK and that of the capitalist system everywhere - in the academy, in the language or in its values. She herself has studied medicine in the capitalist system and is now practically continuing this work in the PKK ranks.

Azê's attention was drawn to the differences between the approach to human health in the PKK and the system: " I studied medicine in Germany, at the center of capitalism. I also worked in the field. Then I made the decision to come to the mountains of Kurdistan. Now I have a place at the Academy Mehmet Hayri Durmuş. In the system, people ca not live without money, so a good job is necessary and that's why I studied.

When you get to know the party, you can see the differences. Being a help in health care in these mountains is something very nice. In society there is only medicine and maybe an injection for the sick, but this is not the case here. When comrades or friends are hurt, you take care of them with the spirit of cooperativeness. This is very important at this stage and we can help the injured. We are in a very hard war, but in this situation we can learn many things at the academy.

The differences between here and the system are clear at any rate. In the system, people are treated as if they were using an engine, that is, like a tool. Everything is examined individually and dismembered, only the physical side is considered. Emotions or a spirit do not exist there. The knowledge of humans is falsified with chemistry. Here in education we learn that cooperativeness stands above all things. You can see that difference clearly.”

"In the ranks of the PKK the best medicine is co-operative society"

Guerrilla Azê notes that the first medicine here is cooperativeness: "If someone from us is wounded, we treat him or her not as in the system, not as a tool. We feel their injuries with them. It is necessary that we sympathize with them. Also we go with this morality to the population. That's how we learned this. As a student of the Academy Mehmet Hayri Durmuş I can now clearly show the differences to the system. When we go to the practice, we follow in the footsteps of these friends.”