The revolution of Rojava has left behind ten years of struggle. The building of this revolution and its defence are mainly due to the resistance of countless fallen and injured people. Practically every street corner has its martyrs of the revolution. One of the war veterans in the Rojava revolution is Sorxwîn Koçer. She comes from the Siirt city of northern Kurdistan and joined the struggle in 2014 under the impression of the attacks on Kobanê.

Telling about her path to revolution, Sorxwîn Koçer said: "The war in Rojava, the resistance of our people in Kobanê and the genocide of Shengal left a deep impression on me, and so I made the decision to join the struggle." After the attack of the terrorist organisation "Islamic State" (ISIS) on Shengal and the genocide that followed, hundreds of thousands of Yazidis, who were saved by the intervention of a group of guerrilla fighters, began to spread as refugees throughout the region. Sorxwîn Koçer experienced this situation and witnessed the great trauma of the diaspora and genocide at the hands of ISIS. She was deeply affected by the situation of the Yazidis.

"My only thought was to fight"

At the time, the resistance of the Women's Defense Units (YPJ) against the Turkish-backed ISIS made headlines around the world. Sorxwîn Koçer described this fight and her new life as a fighter by saying: "Being there and fighting the enemy was my only thought. After I joined the struggle, I realised the difference between life at home and life at the party, in the struggle. In the so-called protected space called home, a woman cannot really know herself. An attitude is cultivated there that robs women of their willpower and conviction. This is the result of five thousand years of power mentality. I realised that the home is really a prison for us women based on this form of domination."

"My courage became the source of morale"

After joining, she said, she became aware of her will and strength. "I saw the history of massacres of women and understood it better. I saw what 5,000 years of patriarchy had done. The party meant a rebirth for me. When I joined the party, I saw feudalism and the effects of backwardness on people," stated Sorxwîn Koçer.

"I understood much better the massacres of our people in Geliyê Zîlan and Dersim, in the battles of Şêx Saîd, Elîşêr and Zerîfe. In other words, I understood our own history better as a whole, our annihilation. If I had stayed at home, I might never have known these things. When you take part in the struggle, you learn and see all this. Through this struggle, I became aware of the historical drama of Kurdish women in particular: every woman who participates in struggle, war and resistance realises her strength and will. My courage has always been a source of morale for me. As I fought, my faith in myself gradually grew. Perhaps with this, the faith in woman that had been buried in the earth for five thousand years blossomed in me."

A death in battle she could never forget

In 2015, Sorxwîn Koçer began fighting in the war. The first friend whose death she experienced was that of Commander Şehîd Çîyager, which, she said, she would never forget. "After he fell, they took him to our car. We carried his lifeless body and put him in the car. His death in battle touched me deeply."

Sorxwîn gets injured and returns to the front line

In June 2015, the YPJ/YPG surrounded the ISIS-occupied town of Sîluk. The jihadists mined the area before retreating. "One morning, the bodies of six friends were brought to our unit. They were Bêrîtan, Berçem, Newroz, Amed, Sîpan and Dilşêr. Dilşêr was the commander of our battalion. An ISIS jihadist had blown himself up, initiating a large-scale attack. My friends were killed there. It is not easy to deal with this. I think of Şehîd Berçem. She was from Mardin. When she fell, they brought her body to us. Many friends were also wounded because they stepped on mines. For example, Comrade Simko fell on the way to the hospital. The friends went back to the front as soon as they recovered," Sorxwîn Koçer added.

"I don't want to die, I want to fight"

In Sîluk, a corridor was opened and the civilian population evacuated. In the fierce fighting, the YPJ and YPG brought a large area under their control. Sorxwîn Koçer remembers fighting for a week with her mobile unit without interruption: "The mercenaries' approach was always the same. First, they approached with vehicles or motorbikes and blew themselves up, then they launched a large-scale attack. One mercenary wanted to blow himself up. We reacted quickly and then they launched an attack."

Sorxwîn Koçer was seriously wounded in this attack. But she was determined to fight on. "I remember saying at the time that I didn't want to fall but to fight." She only opened her eyes again days later in hospital. The war was fought under very difficult conditions. She said she was particularly impressed by the young people, aged 20 or 25, who overran the enemy's positions without hesitation. This further fuelled her determination to fight, she added.

International solidarity

"Thousands of young men and women left everything behind and fought to the last drop of their blood against the ISIS barbarians. The Kurdish youth defending the honour and the land of Rojava is an internationalist and revolutionary youth. I witnessed the determined struggle of the Kurdish, internationalist and revolutionary fighters who threw their bodies at ISIS, which attacked them in the cruelest way under the pretext of establishing an Islamic state. I was part of that struggle and it thrilled me beyond belief. I will never forget how the internationalists came from many parts of the world to support the Kurdish people, how they participated in the war and how they gave their lives for it."

"Our faith in the revolution is strong"

Sorxwîn Koçer told about the influence of the liberation of whole areas: "Especially when we returned from the revolutionary actions, people greeted us with shouts and victory signs. In order to live freely in one's own country, sacrifices have to be made, of course. The cornerstones of this revolution are those who fight, resist and sacrifice, those who remain loyal to the party until the end and stand up for the martyrs. A revolution is a matter of conviction. People who live in the revolution but do not believe in it cannot stand on their own feet. These people cannot fight against the enemy. A person who stays in the war despite everything, who sacrifices and fights on, who takes everything on himself, has faith in the revolution. This conviction will lead the revolution to success. All this work will not disappear then. Thousands of honourable, proud friends, internationalists, revolutionaries, children and women have fallen. To claim the revolution is to claim one's identity. It is about embracing one's dignity, one's country, one's will and one's identity as a free woman. As Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] says, 'The veterans are living martyrs'. This is true for our people and for the party."

"Our task is not over"

Sorxwîn Koçer stressed that the veterans have a big role to play in the success of the revolution; that they must be with the people, participate in organising the revolutionary people's war and in creating a revolutionary identity. "Another task of the veterans is to preserve the revolution and its identity. Standing up for the revolution means standing against the five-thousand-year-old mentality of domination. Because it is about women's freedom. Women who are murdered, raped, subjected to violence, excluded from social life, robbed of their will, must take part in the revolution and defend their values. We know that the way to eliminate this patriarchal mentality is through education. The veterans can solidify the ecological, women's liberation, gender justice and freedom paradigm of Rêber Apo in this revolution."

Sorxwîn Koçer pointed out that for years the Kurdish people did not have the possibility of education and learning in their own mother tongue, were enslaved for centuries and were subjected to massacres. She stressed that the crucial people who could make this reality clear to the people are the veterans. "The questions 'What is the meaning of the revolution? Why was the revolution made?' are very important. The veterans are those who can explain the answers to the people. It is the veterans who are the engine of the revolution."

"We don't have the luxury of losing"

Referring to the attacks of the Turkish state on Rojava, Sorxwîn Koçer explained that a possible attack cannot take place without NATO's permission. The increasing threats of attack by the Turkish state in recent days are an indication of NATO's approval, she said. "Since we defeated ISIS, attacks on Rojava have increased. Even though it may seem that those who are attacking are only the Turkish state and the mercenaries it supports, it is perfectly clear to us that there is an international concept behind it. Today, the Turkish state is defeated by the guerrillas in the mountains of Kurdistan. The Turkish army has suffered heavy losses. It is foreseeable that the Turkish state will attack Rojava after the defeat in South Kurdistan. Therefore, it is time for everyone to unite to protect the values of the revolution and its people."

Sorxwîn Koçer concluded with the call: "It is necessary that the YPG, the YPJ, the SDF, the peoples of Rojava, the internationalists, the women and the revolutionaries stand together against these attacks and stand up for the revolution. We must show the international powers that they cannot attack this revolution whenever it is in their interest. We must find more powerful, effective and creative solutions. If this revolution is suppressed and crushed, our peoples will be condemned to another hundred years of slavery. We cannot afford the luxury of losing again."

 

The article was originally published in the daily newspaper Yeni Özgür Politika in Turkish.