Guerrillas Rênas Civyan, Hogir Botan and Berxwedan were killed in Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) in an ambush by Iranian regime troops. The People's Defense Forces (HPG) said on Friday that the deadly attack took place in July in Kotol (Qatur), west of Xoy. The town is not far from the Iranian-Turkish border opposite Van (Wan). According to reports, the fighters were on their way to North Kurdistan when they were targeted by regime troops.

The HPG expressed condolences to the families of the martyrs and to the Kurdish people, and shared the following information about the biographies of the martyrs:

 Code name: Rênas Civyan

 First and last name: Bedran Erin

 Place of birth: Colemêrg

 Names of mother and father: Pakize – Refik

 Date and place of death: July 19, 2024 / Kotol

 Code name: Hogir Botan

 First and last name: Şerif Adlım

 Place of birth: Şirnex

 Names of mother and father: Hediye – Abdulvahap

 Date and place of death: July 19, 2024 / Kotol

 Code name: Berxwedan Goyî

 First and last name: Rizgar Kara

 Place of birth: Etrûş

 Names of mother and father: Esmer – Muhammed

 Date and place of death: July 19, 2024 / Kotol

Rênas Civyan

Rênas Civyan was born in Yüksekova (Gever) in the northern Kurdish province of Hakkari (Colemêrg). He grew up in an environment characterized by resistance to state oppression and became familiar with the Kurdish liberation movement as a child, as many family members were part of it, including guerrilla commander Egîd Civyan (Vahdettin Karay).

The reality of the constant struggle for one's own existence, language and culture and the war of the Turkish state waged with a mentality of racial fanaticism, led Rênas Civyan to confront the contradictions of the system at an early age.

As a young adult, he channeled the anger that developed in him due to the oppression in Kurdistan into activism under the umbrella of the Revolutionary Youth of Kurdistan. He also took part in the Serhildan (uprisings) in Gever.

Influenced by the fact that people from his immediate environment were killed in attacks on the guerrillas, he went to the mountains himself in 2014. He received his basic military training in the Medya Defense Areas, where he subsequently became involved in the academic field and acquired in-depth knowledge of the art of war - tactics, operational procedures and strategy.

From 2015, he was deployed on various fronts of the war for around three years. In 2018, he became part of the Hêzên Taybet special unit, which requires a special willingness to make sacrifices and ideological depth in order to fight at the highest level.

Hogir Botan

Hogir Botan was born in Cizre (Cizîr) in the province of Şırnak (Şirnex), but grew up first in western Turkey and later in Antep (Dîlok), as his parents had to leave their home due to the state's expulsion policy in the 1990s. Even as a child, he felt that the Kurds in Turkey were being denied their identity and their culture was being suppressed with violence; stigmatization, criminalization, discrimination and hostility were part of the family's everyday life.

These experiences generated deep anger in Hogir Botan. When he went to study in Ankara, he met members of the Kurdish youth movement at the university. He first became involved with the liberation struggle in Kurdistan led by the PKK. Influenced by the resistance for self-government in 2015, he took part in many different actions and thus became the target of the state.

As a result, he was arrested and spent around two years in prison. As soon as he was released, he went to the mountains. Since then, he has been with the guerrillas in South Kurdistan.

Berxwedan Goyî

Berxwedan Goyî was born in Etrûş in South Kurdistan. His family came from the Northern Kurdish Botan region and had to leave Turkey due to state oppression. He grew up in the self-governing refugee camp of Maxmur, where he was taught at school in his native Kurdish language and, as an adolescent, took part in the camp's activities.

In 2015, he went to the mountains and joined the guerrillas. This decision was triggered by the PKK's deployment against the terrorist organization Islamic State in Shengal, Mosul and Maxmur. In 2014, ISIS overran large parts of Iraq and Syria and installed a reign of terror. The jihadist militia proclaimed a "caliphate" across national borders and carried out massacres that claimed countless victims.

The HPF said: "Comrade Berxwedan fell as a martyr together with our comrades Rênas and Hogir in an ambush that took place in the Kotol region on 19 July 2024."