Besê Raperîn, a martyr in love with freedom

Besê Raperîn, who fell a martyr by striking heavy blows against the enemy until her last breath, became a symbol of labour, honesty and sacrificial participation from the moment she joined the PKK.

Born into a patriotic family in Siirt, Mizgin Aksu (Besê Raperîn) grew up with the nomad culture. The resilient character of the people of the region was also effective in shaping Mizgin Aksu's personality. The Botan region has always played an important role in the history of the freedom struggle. This enabled Mizgin Aksu to get to know the Kurdistan Freedom Movement closely. In search of a meaningful life, Mizgin Aksu choose a single goal for herself and joined the guerrilla ranks in 2012.

Mizgin Aksu, who fell in love with the mountains when she was still a child, took the name Besê Raperîn after becoming a guerrilla in the ranks of YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops). Having realised her dream of taking to the mountains, Besê Raperîn's main goal was to ensure the freedom of all Kurdish people, especially women. On this basis, she actively participated in life in every field in order to strengthen her struggle. After going to the mountains of Kurdistan, she was most impressed by the life of women guerrillas.

Developing herself in every sense in order to become a selfless hero of the people, Besê Raperîn got to know the fallen guerrillas, the symbols of freedom, and took their line as a basis. Besê Raperîn, who fought for the physical freedom of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, carried out her first guerrilla practice in the Metina region. She fought in the most challenging areas and attended training at the Martyr Mahir Academy to become a professional guerrilla. At the academy, she received heavy weapons training to further develop her military aspect and to deal heavy blows to the invaders in actions. After successfully completing the training, she returned to the resistance positions once again. With a desire to travel all the mountains of Kurdistan, she aimed to fight wherever the occupying enemy is.

The guerrilla Besê Raperîn, who knew that a separate epic is written on every mountain of Kurdistan and that the blood of thousands of heroes flew on every inch of soil, continued her resistance with this awareness. In 2014, she moved to Zagros, the region of martyrs Reşîd Serdar and Rojîn Gewda. Zagros has been a place where the people of Kurdistan have sheltered throughout history. This region became a new beginning for guerrilla Besê. Fighting in the steep Zagros mountains requires strength and willpower. But a person who is locked on the goal does not recognise any difficulties and obstacles. Committed to her goal, she also did not recognise any difficulties and obstacles. The guerrilla Besê, who felt freedom most deeply on the summit of these high mountains, attracted the attention of her comrades with her participation in life. She led her comrades and became a symbol of labour, honesty and sacrificial participation from the moment she joined the PKK. After the occupying Turkish state launched attacks against guerrilla areas in 2015, guerrilla Besê, together with her comrades, put up relentless resistance against these attacks.

The guerrilla Besê, who dealt heavy blows to the enemy in the actions in the Çarçela area, waged a great struggle to defend the gains of the Kurdish people. As a young commander of YJA Star, she never accepted occupation in Kurdistan. She constantly carried out actions to prevent the occupiers from living comfortably in Kurdistan. Showing everyone how strong women are with her intelligence, will and passion for life, she achieved great success in her 6 years of practice in Zagros. She always fought against the enemy with great determination and internalised Leader Apo's (Abdullah Öcalan’s) philosophy of life and became a practitioner of it in life. She resisted until her last breath together with her comrade Welat Dılbırin (Ali Öğmen) during the attacks launched by the Turkish state, and joined the caravan of martyrs on 14 July 2019.