Guerrillas from different backgrounds participate in the resistance against the Turkish invasion in the Medya Defense Areas. Arab HPG fighter Arteş Dêrazor comes from the eastern Syrian district of Deir ez-Zor. In 2015, he got to know Abdullah Öcalan's ideas and began to discuss them with PKK members. When he learned that one of his friends in the PKK had fallen, he decided to join the guerrilla movement. He sees in the struggle of the guerrillas a struggle for the freedom of all peoples of the Near and Middle East.

Arteş Dêrazor said: “By living in the mountains, people get to know nature in a completely different way. After going to the mountains, I understood some things better. When a friend falls next to you, this connects you even more with the mountains and the party. That is why we give our word to stay in these mountains until our last breath.

When you start reading Rêber Öcalan's works, every word moves you. Öcalan’s philosophy includes all the peoples of the region. When we read Öcalan, we realize how much we long for knowledge. We say to the peoples of the Near and Middle East: even if you do not know the party, you should get to know Rêber Apo [Öcalan]. I address especially the Kurdish and Arab young people; you will get the best answer to your questions here in these mountains. Come on, get to know the mountains and find out what a struggle we are waging here. Do not allow fascism to take our country."