The Headquarters Command of YJA Star (Free Women’s Troops) released a statement saluting the two female guerrillas who carried out an action of self-sacrifice against a police complex in the southern province of Mersin on the night of 26 September. The Press Center of HPG (People’s Defense Forces) announced in a written statement on Thursday the identity of the two guerrillas as Sara Tolhildan and Ruken Zelal.

The YJA Star Headquarters Command statement saluting the action includes the following:

“With respect and gratitude, we commemorate our great martyrs, Sara Tolhildan and Rûken Zelal, who practiced the Zilan line on September 26, 2022 and became a symbol of freedom-honour against the genocidal attacks carried out by the AKP-MHP government on the Kurdish people, women, comrades in prisons, the nature of our country, and guerrillas. We enthusiastically salute and congratulate the glorious action of these comrades, who represent the guerrilla stance of the organized women that met with freedom on the line of Öcalan with great determination, courage and calmness in the places most trusted by the enemy.

The army of the AKP-MHP administration, paramilitary forces, the JÖH-PÖH organizations, and its intelligence agency that has turned into a criminal organization, are implementing a plan to re-occupy and destroy Kurdistan. Attacks carried out since April 14 this year by all kinds of dirty and criminal means have surpassed an interstate war and constitute an attempt to crush the people and women by hammering their defence forces and breaking their will. In the presence of the whole world and with the partnership of the hegemonic powers, a very dangerous spiral of massacre and violence is in progress in Kurdistan that no one wants to address.

THEY BROUGHT ZILAN’S STANCE INTO ACTION

In the face of these attacks, the legitimate struggle of our Freedom movement based on the principle of "preserving existence and ensuring freedom" which aims at building a women-led Democratic Nation based on Öcalan’s ideas is currently carried out with outstanding actions of resistance. As part of this reality, the spectacularly-organized and determined action of comrades Sara and Rûken represented the free woman stance created by Öcalan. Our comrades who carried out this action by overcoming all the enemy's intelligence, technical equipment and tracking brought Zilan’s stance into action just like our comrades who took part in the resistance areas in Behdinan and represented the YJA Star leadership as the power to hold the attacks against our people, women and guerrillas accountable.

Our comrades Sara and Rûken led a life that is ideologically inspired by Öcalan, promotes the line of free women on this basis, and represents the honour of being its militants under all conditions. Focusing on the movement and action capability of autonomous teams on the basis of professional guerrilla warfare, these comrades became an effective tactical force with their brave and determined stance. Their action, which was carried out shortly before the month of October, which marks the anniversary of our comrade Bêrîtan’s (Gülnaz Karataş) action against the fascist Turkish state and treacherous collaborator Kurdish forces, represents the quality of women's army as a striking force of the will of freedom created by Öcalan in women.

WE SALUTE THIS SPECTACULAR ACTION

In addition to its helplessness in the face of the action of this self-sacrificing action, the fascist Turkish state has caused a major scandal as it continues to organize its special war based on fake news and false information. The Turkish state has no idea of where our comrades came from, how they reached their target, and it will continue to be the target of such actions until it halts its attacks.

Everyone should understand the action of our comrades, Sara and Rûken, vanguard of the women's movement and disciples of our great commander Comrade Sara, and should take part in the struggle on the basis of this action. These comrades are the bravest and most beautiful representation of free life, free will and free female identity against a large-scale massacre, oppression and rape culture. With this responsibility and awareness in mind, we call on everyone to take a courageous stance and take part in the struggle around the memory of these comrades and the sacred values ​​they represent. We reiterate our promise to build a free life based on Öcalan’s freedom. We commemorate with respect and gratitude our comrades Sara Tolhildan and Rûken Zelal in the person of our comrades who fell as martyrs during the Behdinan resistance war and congratulate this glorious action, saying that, Women will save the world.”