Guerrillas Havîn Gabar and Delîl Tolhildan fell as martyrs on 4 December in an attack by the Turkish army in the western Zap region of South Kurdistan. The Press Center of the People's Defense Forces (HPG) said in a statement that “Havîn Gabar and Delîl Tolhildan were valuable comrades who made sacrifice a way of life and shaped those around them with their courageous commitment to a free life and their intellectual wealth. As their comrades, we feel the responsibility to do justice to Havîn and Delîl on the path they paved. We express our condolences to their precious families and the patriotic people of Kurdistan.”

The HPG provided the following information about the identity of the martyrs:

Codename: Havîn Gabar

First and last name: Canan Oral

Place of birth: Aydın

Names of mother and father: Rahmete – Abdulaziz

Date and place of death: 4 December 2023 / Zap

 

Codename: Delîl Tolhildan

First and last name: Isa Kahraman

Place of birth: Agiri

Names of mother and father: Kemali – Ağabey

Date and place of death: 4 December 2023 / Zap

Havin Gabar

Havîn Gabar was born in Aydın in western Turkey. Her family came from Şirnak and preserved the ancient culture of the Botan region. Havîn, therefore, never had any doubts about her Kurdish identity. The family later returned to Şirnak. Like many Kurdish children, Havîn experienced her first conflicts with the Turkish state at school because she was not allowed to speak her native language.

She learned early on about the hostile policy towards the Kurdish people and took a stand against it. As a teenager, she became active in the youth movement and became increasingly conscious. As she later said, life within the system no longer seemed sufficient to her after she had come to know the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan's ideas. The decisive factor in her decision to engage in armed struggle was the execution in Şirnakof actor and activist Hacı Lokman Birlik, whose body was dragged along the streets behind a police vehicle during the resistance for self-government in October 2015. Shortly afterward, Havîn joined the guerrillas in Besta.

From Besta, Havîn went to Heftanîn for basic training. She took part in guerrilla life with great enthusiasm and seriousness, concentrating on exploring the secret of freedom and anchoring it in her personality. She realized that the first step to liberation was to leave the traditional role of women in society. Freedom requires intense confrontation and hard work, and Havîn walked this path with patient and sure steps.

Due to the war and attacks on the population, Havîn focused her training on the military sector. This made her an accomplished fighter for the YJA Star (Free Women Units). At her own persistent request, she went to the war zone in the western Zap region and took part in many successful actions against the Turkish occupying forces. She fought both in mobile units and in the guerrilla tunnels. Havîn Gabar was killed along with Delîl Tolhildan in an enemy attack on 4 December.

Delil Tolhildan

Delîl Tolhildan was born in Agirî-Panos and grew up with the culture and social ethics of the Serhad region. Growing up, he questioned his life and became interested in the history of Kurdistan, especially the Agirî (Ararat) uprising.

His research into the Kurdish uprisings of the past ultimately led him to the present and he came to the conclusion that the people of Serhad could make their unfulfilled dream of freedom come true with the fight of the PKK. He was impressed by the consistent revolutionary attitude of the Kurdish freedom movement and the guerrilla struggle. In 2014 he went into the mountains in Tendurek and joined the guerrillas.

Delîl spent his first time as a guerrilla in Bakur, North Kurdistan, together with experienced comrades who taught him basic knowledge about life and fighting in the mountains. Delîl took part in all the work with great enthusiasm and felt responsible for everything. His fellow fighters taught him the value of cooperative relationships and this experience shaped the rest of his life. After a short period of practice in Serhad, he went to the Medya Defense Areas and received further training.

He first stayed in Metina and then went to Shengal to defend the Yazidi community against ISIS. There he witnessed the Islamist massacres of the population. Delil was one of the brave fighters who contributed to the liberation of Shengal. He gained his first war experience and then returned to the mountains. He knew that the peoples of Kurdistan are always at risk of genocide as well as the importance of the ability to defend themselves.

In the mountains he continued his military and ideological training for the guerrilla struggle of democratic modernity and took on various tasks. When the Turkish army intensified its occupation attacks on the western Zap region, he resisted with great courage as a conscious apoist militant until the end.