Guerrilla Rûken Kobanê comes from a Turkish nationalist region on the Turkish Black Sea coast. She grew up in Samsun and joined the guerrillas in 2014. In this ANF interview she talks about the contradiction between state propaganda and the reality of the guerrillas. About her own perspective, the guerrilla says: “The ideology and philosophy of Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] made a huge impression on me. The cooperative character in the PKK is what moved me most. In particular, to feel the strength as a woman, to recognize your own reality and to be able to develop was decisive for me. It was about being able to stand up against the femicides in this system and develop further instead of being limited to the home, to focus on the world and not to be silent about what is happening around us. It was about organizing against injustice and so I tried to organize myself within the PKK."

Rûken Kobanê describes her joining the PKK as a kind of rebirth: “It was as if I had never lived my previous life. I have started a new life. New feelings as well as new consciousness arise in you. The cooperative feeling in the PKK means, as Heval Kemal Pîr said, 'to form a unity of spirit'. To share everything with our comrades, under all circumstances, from a piece of bread to the greatest difficulties we face: This is the greatest force that sustains the PKK. According to the ideology and philosophy of Rêber Apo, our main source of struggle is this bond between us. This is what impressed me the most.”

“PKK also means liberation of the Turkish people”

Guerrilla Rûken Kobanê talks about the profound difference between Kurdish society and the social reality she was familiar with: “This is why my attachment to the Kurds and Kurdistan has increased. As Rêber Apo says, the liberation of the Turkish people takes place through the freedom of the Kurdish people."

"I would love to tell you about Öcalan"

Rûken Kobanê longs to be able to share Öcalan's paradigm and what she has learned in the mountains with her family, her childhood friends and the Turkish people. She explains: “I believe that at least awareness of this genocide against the Kurdish people should be spread. Those who are conscious choose to remain silent for fear of the system. I never had the feeling that I came from another society or another culture. There are friends here of all languages ​​and ethnicities. For example, there are Arabs, Armenians and friends from Europe. Everyone lives in a comradely way, regardless of ethnicity or language. People from the Kurdish community and people from other communities are at the same level within the PKK. The more they become cadres, the more they learn, the more they share their knowledge. In other words, there is no difference between languages, religions and ethnicity within the PKK. This is another thing that really impressed me. I had massive inconsistencies with the system in this regard. That's how we grew up. It was the same in my family. A distinction was made between religion, ethnicity and language. Within the PKK you feel your being, you feel your humanity. Humanity is the greatest value."

"Not the PKK, but the state is a child murderer"

Commenting on the Turkish propaganda that the PKK is terrorist and Öcalan is a “baby killer”, guerrilla Kobanê says: “I saw that in fact it is the state that kill children. Whether women, children or the elderly, the state kills without distinction. This claim against the leadership and the PKK cadres is incorrect. I saw clearly that this is the dirty policy of the state."