Efrîn Canton Autonomous Administration Co-president Hêvî Mistefa had a talk with the ANF.

Mistefa, who was born into a patriotic family in Efrîn's Mabeta district, has spent most of her lifetime in the city of Aleppo. A former biology teacher Hêvî Mistefa, has been an active member of the freedom struggle since the very beginning of the Rojava Revolution.

After describing some characteristics of the Efrîn canton, Mistefa drew the attention to the geographical distance that isolates this canton from the other parts of Rojava and said: "The Efrîn canton is the most sensitive part of the Rojava Revolution. Following the enemy's aggression, a geographic cleft opened between the cantons, but a coordination desk consisting of nine people was always in close contact. In the middle of the revolution the special peculiarities of each canton came to surface all the time. Efrîn was even more besieged than the other cantons. The Turkish state had its borders at that stage of the revolution closed. To the east and south gangs were mobilized. The main objective of the revolution was from the very beginning to secure the coexistence and fraternity of all peoples, the local ones and the neighbouring ones. We declared this. But our neighbours, in particular the Turkish state has carried out a deep enmity against the revolution from the very beginning."

THE PEOPLE'S WILL AND EFRÎN'S FERTILE SOIL HAVE FRUSTRATED THE EMBARGO

"Neighbouring powers were assuming that they could suffocate Efrîn with this embargo easily. Therefore they put the border to Efrîn under their strict control and tried to dry it out economically. The embargo is still ongoing. Gang members coerce a heavy tax on goods that go into Efrîn. But the people's will and Efrîn's fertile soil have frustrated the embargo. During the Ba'ath regime no investments into Efrîn's economy were made whatsoever. Efrîn's working force migrated en masse to the Aleppo city. And the labour of the people from Efrîn stayed in Aleppo. But in these last four years the people of Efrîn started to attach great weight to the agriculture and manufacture. Through the system of cooperatives production has skyrocketed."

WAYS AND MEANS OF THE ADMINISTRATION

Regarding the administration of the canton, Hêvî Mistefa said: We are conducting our work through 15 ministries. The centre is Efrîn. Each ministry consists of committees situated in every district of the Efrîn canton. Those committees resolve problems on local level with much care for the people. The scope of works of the municipalities has been strengthened and widened by us. During the reign of the Ba'ath regime altogether seven municipalities were at work in whole of Efrîn, the city centre and all its districts. We have increased the number to 33 municipalities now."

EFRÎN'S PEOPLE KNOW WELL TO RISE UP AND RESIST

Hêvî Mistefa pointed out that the most vital characteristic of the people of Efrîn is their faithfulness to their culture and their patriotism. She continued: "They tried to stalemate the people of Efrîn to the point of total dependency and force them to migrate. But this policy affected only the generation before the revolution. When clashes broke out in Aleppo, a decisive part of the people returned to Efrîn. This return was at the same time a return to the roots. They say about the people of Efrîn: 'They are mirthful people, they like a quiet life'. But the people of Efrîn know very well to rise up in difficult times and put up a resistance."

THE POSITION AND ROLE OF THE WOMAN IN THE REVOLUTION

Hêvî Mistefa continued saying that the Rojava Revolution is in fact a revolution of mentality and stated: "The mentality of the nation state oppressed and pressurized certain parts of the society. Predominantly women were exposed to its violence. The women were condemned to scrape a living inside of four walls. It deprived the young folk of their personalities and ruled over them at will. It had them think only of the clothes and shoes they wear and weakened their bond with the family. But with the Rojava Revolution women found back themselves. Since the very beginning they seated themselves at the military front. But it did not stop there, they organised themselves also at the societal level and have developed to a powerful force. Women have earned themselves in every aspect and branch equality of rights. Legislations have been introduced that secure women's rights. Polygamy has been banned. The inheritance law has been introduced in a fair way to all parties. The education system is staffed with a female rate of 90%. Women have become part of the Self Defence Units and are protecting themselves. And women are working now for the most part in the economy sector. Also in the cultural and artistic fields the women are prevailing."

THE WISHES AND DREAMS OF THE TURKISH STATE WILL GO DOWN THE DRAIN

Concerning the attacks of the occupying Turkish state, Hêvî Mistefa said the following: "The Turkish state wanted to launch attacks against Efrîn by using the ISIS gangs. Following the civil war in Syria, Turkey had been the most eager power that wanted to intervene. They wanted to do this utilizing ISIS gangs and tried to secure their reign over Syria via the opposition block that presented itself to be against the regime. Afterwards Turkey tried to achieve this by using again some radical gangs. Turkey's prime objective was to impede the Rojava Revolution and hinder the Kurdish people from obtaining any sort of rights. The Turkish state and the Erdoğan regime do not know any borders and limits in their enmity against the Kurdish people. Since the start of the Syrian civil war, Turkey indulges itself in Ottoman dreams and phantasies. So that the Kurdish people do not get hold of even the smallest of all rights, Turkey opened the bargain. For that reason they even sold out their gangs. They withdrew the gangs affiliated with them from Aleppo and regrouped them under the new name of "Euphrates Shields", using them to invade the entire region from Jarablus until al-Bab. Its main target was to foil the Rojava Revolution and to deny the Kurdish people the right to exist. So now, Turkey is trying to achieve what its gangs failed to succeed in with its own soldiers disguised as gang members. They are trying to invade the Efrîn canton. It does everything it can and hurls nonstop threats at us. Several times they tried to push for an invasion, but after failing they started to shell the villages of Efrîn and the Shehba region on a daily basis. The dreams and phantasies of Turkey and Erdoğan will go down the drain."