The story of each person is different. Dilêr Amed's is the realization of the dream of tens of thousands who are currently resisting in Turkish prisons. Dilêr with six friends escaped from Amed Prison in 2016 and is now continuing his freedom struggle in the Zap region. ANF talked to Dilêr Amed about his way out of captivity to the Kurdish mountains.

Can you tell us about the time you were captured?

The time I was captured coincided with the 2011/2012 war. During these years there was a high-intensity war in Kurdistan. There were strong offensives of guerrillas with clear results. It was a year full of actions where many have shown their courage and heroism. In 2012, there were fierce attacks by the enemy in Northern Kurdistan. In the central region, in Dersim and Botan large operations took place. I was in Amed in a unit at Akdağ. During an attack on our camp in November I was captured in a wounded state. Of course, I went to jail afterwards. This is definitely the hardest situation a guerrilla fighter can experience.

Which prison were you brought to first?

After the arrest, I was taken to Bingöl Prison. I stayed there for a short time. The friends there dug an escape tunnel and I was involved in the work on the tunnel for a while. But later I was transferred to Amed. Of course we could not move as we wanted in the prison of Amed. The state relocates us to where it wants us. It constantly gives you the message "You are under my control, you are in my hands.”

How did the flight from Bingöl Prison make you feel?

The friends in Bingöl Prison fled shortly after my transfer. That really gave me joy. On the other hand, I thought, "If only I had been with them and fled" or "If only I could be out and walk on guerrilla path together my friends."

The joy of escape from Bingöl soon changed into bitterness, because the friends were caught. Some of them were transferred to Wan Prison and others to Ankara Prison. But we kept writing and receiving news from them. We tried to understand how their morale, mood and situation was. Of course, we were always on the lookout for escape.

Some of the friends who were transferred to Van were later transferred to Amed Prison. Their escape plans did not stop. They always said, "We will not stay in jail, we will not accept this jail, if necessary we will try it again and again. Right, the first time we did not succeed, but the second time we will succeed. We will not be intimidated."

And how did your flight then come about?

We looked at the physical conditions in Amed Prison and tried to design a plan. We wanted to understand and get to know it. The prison of Amed is different than other prisons. It also has an important ideological meaning for us, because it is a place where the tradition of Kemal, Hayri and Mazlum lives on, it is a fortress of resistance. A blow to the enemy here was therefore of the utmost importance to us.

Amed prison was also important to the enemy because it is the place where general prison policies are determined. The attitude of the enemy towards the prison of Amed was reflected in the attitude and the dealings with all other prisoners. It was the place where the most massive repression and the most intense politics took place. Since Amed is the capital of Kurdistan, this point has a big impact. The prison of Amed differs however also by its security architecture from other prisons. Amed Prison is a high security prison and the enemy bragged much about it.

Well, it was said that an escape from Amed was impossible. This extreme self-confidence of the enemy was an advantage for us, because it had no substance. We noticed that. Then we made a plan, implemented it and fled. Our plan included a long time of preparation, it took us six months. On the one hand we did sports during these six months and on the other hand we prepared ourselves mentally. We kept discussing how we would overcome the obstacles that might emerge in our path.

We made the plan for six friends. All of us were guerrilla fighters and captured in various places. We consulted constantly, exchanging ideas, and finally coming to the conclusion that we could do it. And then we did it. We calculated the "security" measures of the enemy, the towers, the number of cameras, the alarm wires and the thermal cameras. We discussed how to overcome all these obstacles and developed alternatives in each area. After six months of intensive work and preparation, we broke out on the night of 6 March.

How did you meet with your friends after the escape? Can you briefly recount this moment?

Immediately after our escape, we were accommodated in Amed in the countryside. Being here with my friends was a great joy, a great pleasure for us. Shortly thereafter, we met the unit of Martyr Azad Siser and stayed in the same area for a while.

How did you get into the Medya Defense Zones?

Since we had already been to the guerrilla in the past, some of us knew the province of Amed and others the province of Erzurum. We wanted to stay in the north, but the friends found it better for us to go to the Medya Defense Zones (in southern Kurdistan). So we went there.

At this point, I cannot continue without talking about Heval Azad. He was 2014-2015 commander of the province of Amed. Before, he had served as a commander of Erzurum for a while. He has done a lot, especially in the war phase of 2015-2016. Under his leadership, an intense fight took place in the region in 2017. He himself fell in this war. Heval Azad can be described as the "commander of the time". He took part in the coordination of battle in Sur resistance, Lice and other parts of Amed. He was a great revolutionary, guerrilla and commander.

Now, as a guerrilla fighter in the Zap area, can you describe the fight you are leading?

In 2016-2017, a high-intensity war took place in the Zap region. The enemy attacked the area heavily because the enemy's perspective on the Zap was always special. Whether one speaks of the operation of 1997 or the 2008, one can see this difference. Their attacks always aimed to occupy the Zap region. The fierce war of 2016 gained further intensity in 2017.

In 2017 there was the Qela Bedewê operation. The enemy had to withdraw with great losses. There was massive resistance to the operation. Valuable comrades fell in the resistance under the leadership of Martyr Mervan. The battle of the fallen prevented the advance of the enemy troops into the region. Truly an epic of resistance was mounted. So the enemy was forced to retreat again. In the continuing phase, a major operation took place in Xeregol. This resistance also showed great heroism. One of our units resisted the Turkish military for an entire week. Although the Turkish state used every imaginable technology and the terrain was unfavorable, here a great resistance was displayed.