The East Kurdistan Defense Forces (Yekîneyên Parastina Rojhilatê Kurdistanê, YRK) announced that fighter Berxwedan Çiyager was killed on 2 September in an air strike by the Turkish state in Pêncewîn in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The martyr’s real name was Mazlum Öztürk and he was born in Amed in 1997. He joined the YRK from France in January 2023.
Writing about Berxwedan Çiyager, the YRK said that his family had to move from Amed to Istanbul due to the oppression by the Turkish state. Since he was also exposed to repression and was looking for a free life, he fled from Turkey to Europe and came to France. After the deadly attack on the Kurdish cultural center “Ahmet Kaya” on 23 December 2022, in which Evîn Goyî (Emine Kara), Mîr Perwer (Mehmet Şirin Aydın) and Abdurrahman Kızıl were murdered, he decided on armed struggle and went back to Kurdistan. He was very impressed by the “Jin Jiyan Azadî” revolution, and wanted to get to know the culture and territory of East Kurdistan. He joined the YRK.
The YRK expressed its condolences to the family of Berxwedan Çiyager and the Kurdish people and said that it will avenge all the martyrs by building a free and democratic Kurdistan.