In a statement about the ongoing war in Kurdistan, the Press Office of the People's Defence Forces (HPG) reported ongoing Turkish attacks despite the fact that the Kurdish freedom movement stopped all actions after the earthquake in the Turkish-Syrian border area at the beginning of February and is in a defensive position. The decision of inaction is valid until the elections in Turkey on 14 May.

HPG stated that: "The Turkish army attacked two of our companions in the mountains of Van’s Çaldıran district on 25 April 2023. Our comrades Ekin and Rosîda responded to the attack to protect themselves. A battle ensued in which they sacrificially fought to their last breath and fell. Comrades Ekin and Rosîda were leading militants of our women's liberation struggle. They insisted on freedom and proved to be Apoist militants with their unbending stand against the enemy, occupying an honourable place in the history of our people. As their comrades, we will intensify the struggle handed over to us by Ekin and Rosîda in the consciousness of being worthy of them. We give our word that we will make their dreams of a free life with Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] in a free Kurdistan come true."

HPG offered their condolences to the families of the martyrs, the people of the Serhed region and the people of Kurdistan.

The identity information of the fallen guerrillas is as follows:

Nom de Guerre: Ekin Rizgar Malazgirt First-Last Name: Nuran Altunmakas Birthplace: İzmir Mother's-Father's Name: Fatma – Mehmet Şirin Date and Place of Martyrdom: 25 April 2023 / Serhed

Nom de Guerre: Rosîda Bawer First-Last Name: Belgin Güven Birthplace: Erzurum Mother's-Father's Name: Halide – Orhan Date and Place of Martyrdom: 25 April 2023 / Serhed

EKİN RİZGAR MALAZGİRT

Ekin Rizgar Malazgirt was born in Izmir. Her family is from the Malazgirt district in Muş province and had to leave their home due to state repression. Although Ekin did not grow up in Kurdistan, her parents taught her about Kurdish culture and the resistance tradition of the Serhed region. Ekin followed the Kurdish liberation struggle with great interest since her childhood and suffered with her people who were oppressed and subjected to massacres. As a young Kurdish woman, she objected to the system in which women did not count and were enslaved. She studied the philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan and saw in it the possibility of liberation. After her brother joined the guerrilla ranks in 2014, she became active herself and followed him into the mountains in 2015. From Serhed, she moved to the Medya Defence Zones for basic training and then went into practice in the Zap region. After two years in a mobile unit in the Zap, during which she took part in various actions against the Turkish army, she underwent specialist training in sabotage tactics and then attended an academy, from which she emerged as the commander of YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops). At her own request, she went to Bakur (Northern Kurdistan) and last fought in Van.

ROSÎDA BAWER

Rosîda Bawer was born in Erzurum province and grew up in a family close to the Kurdish freedom movement. Her relatives joined the PKK and Rosîda knew the party as a child. She experienced the attacks of the Turkish state on her people and the resistance against them. When her close relative Bawer (Feyyaz Güven) died in the struggle, Rosîda decided to join the armed resistance. In 2015, she took to the mountains and became a guerrilla fighter. In her training, she dealt with the reality of the Kurdish people and her own personality and quickly developed into a leading militant of the YJA Star. In 2016, she completed a course at a military academy and stayed there as an instructor for the next three years. After a stay at the Şehîd Bêrîtan Women's Academy in 2019, she went to Bakur at her own request and fought most recently in her home region of Serhed.