Symbols of Rojava resistance

The sparkle of March 8th started in 1908, when 15 women working in New York demanded to reduce working hours, fair salaries, and the right to choose work, and for the first time Clara Zetkin suggested that this day become an international one to recall the working women who were burned alive by the authoritarian mentality because they demanded their rights.

Today, women have become a source of inspiration in the struggle for freedom, and this inspiration stems from the depth of the struggle that Clara, Rosa, and Zarifa waged during the Rojava Revolution, and with the values of this struggle, they reached a new stage. From Hevrin Khalaf to Hind Khifer, women struggled tirelessly for freedom.

The rights and freedom of women and the building of society again are necessary matters. Therefore, women's freedom is the issue of men as well because it is the issue of changing the authoritarian system of men, and accordingly, in order to show the truth and meaning of March 8th "International Women's Day" and the struggle against the existing authoritarian regimes, we would like to touch upon the struggle waged by some of the heroines who participated in the Rojava Revolution, and became a symbol of right and freedom.

Struggling for the truth of Women's Revolution

Hevrin Khalaf

Hevrin Khalaf was born into a patriotic family in Dêrik in 1983, a sister of 4 brothers and one sister named "Zozan" who was martyred within the ranks of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement, and her mother's meeting with the leader Abdullah Ocalan had a great impact on her personality.

Hevrin, after completing her elementary, middle and high school studies in Dêrik, completed her education at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Aleppo, and after she finished her education, she returned to Dêrik.

With the outbreak of the Rojava Revolution, she joined the ranks of the Freedom Revolution, participated in youth activities, and then worked as an administrator within the Economic Body in Qamishlo.

After the declaration of the Democratic Autonomous Administration, Hevrin worked as a co-chair of the Energy Body in the Democratic Autonomous Administration of al-Jazira region. Hevrin was the Co-chair of the Economic Committee in al-Jazira region, and she played an important and essential role in developing economic work in the region.

Hevrin wanted to engage in work more to serve her people, and she was one of the founders of the Future Syria Party. In 2018 she became an example for the entire Syrian people with her struggle. On March 27, 2018, she began working as General Secretary of the Future Syria Party.

On October 11, 2019, Hevrin was martyred during the attack of the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries on the areas of north and east Syria, where she was targeted on the M4 international road.

An effective vanguard in all areas of the revolution

Zahra Berkel

The martyr Zahra Berkel grew up within a patriotic family. She was originally from the village of Berkh Botan, south of Kobani city.

When the Rojava Revolution began, she was a student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Aleppo, and with the beginning of the revolution, she left the university and joined the ranks of the revolution. Through her revolutionary struggle, she was able to put an imprint in the life of the revolutionary Kurdish women, as she struggled for the revival and creation of a free society, and she played a pioneering role within the institutions of the Rojava Revolution.

Before the start of the revolution, the martyr Zahra used to take Kurdish language lessons in secret, and with the outbreak of the revolution she was able to develop herself in the field of language, and she became a teacher in a number of schools in Kobani.

In 2013, Zahra joined the institutions affiliated with women, and the beginning was from the “Women’s House” at the time, then she worked within “Sara Organization for Combating Violence against Women” and there she was able to play an effective role.

With the aim of organizing and developing society, Zahra joined the Democratic Society Movement, in which she held the position of the co-presidency of the People's Assembly. In 2017 she was elected to the position of the co-presidency of Kobani town, and then she held the position of the co-chairmanship of the Justice Committee in it.

The martyr Zahra Berkel also took her place in the organization of the Star Conference, and she was appointed as the co-chair of the Events Committee in the Euphrates region. She was also an administrator at the Martyr Sheylan Academy within men's training courses.

At the eighth conference of the Kongra Star Organization that was held in 2018, she was elected as a member of the General Coordination of the Kongra Star, and she continued her work after that in each of Ain Issa, Sareen, and Girê Spî, with the aim of developing women, opening avenues of their thought within society and liberating them from male power, and in order to achieve equality between men and women, they made tremendous efforts.

On June 23, 2020, the Turkish occupation committed a massacre in the village of Helanj, east of Kobani city, by targeting a civilian house in which Zahra was present at the time, which led to her martyrdom with some of her fellow strugglers to join martyrs’ ranks.

Mother Aqidah

Aqidah Ali Othman was born in 1966 in Girkê Legê. In the eighties, she effectively took her place within the revolutionary activities. After the mother Aqidah became acquainted with the Kurdistan Freedom Movement, she was a pioneer in spreading the thought of women's freedom, and she did not give up the resistance until her last breath. Mother Aqidah was arrested twice by the Damascus government because of her revolutionary activities that she used to lead; however, whenever she was released from prison, she would return to her activities.

Mother Aqidah, by virtue of her optimistic nature, was loved by all segments of society, and she led the struggle of women at the Kongra Star. She resisted the authoritarian mentality of men without hesitation, and at the same time was a member of the Pecification Commission in Girkê Legê.

After the arrest of the leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 by the Turkish occupation state, Mother Aqidah wore a black dress, and since then she started the struggle for the leader Abdullah Ocalan’s freedom.

  She took her place on the front lines of the resistance when the Turkish occupation state launched its attacks on Afrin in 2018.

When the Turkish occupation state and its mercenaries began on October 9, 2019 to attack Serêkaniyê and Girê Spî, Mother Aqidah took part in organizing the ranks of resistance against the mercenaries who are commiting terrible crimes against people, and on October 13, she headed with a convoy of civilians to Serêkaniyê.

The warplanes of the Turkish occupation army brutally bombed this convoy of civilians, and this bombing resulted in the loss of dozens of civilians of their lives. Mother Aqidah who was among the martyrs said a few minutes before her martyrdom, “We will go to Serêkaniyê and support the resistance of our people. We will never flee. Everyone should know that we do not depend on anyone. The only forces we trust are the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ).”

Symbol of peoples’ unity

Hind Al-Khedr

Islam Latif Al-Khedr, known as Hind, was born in the village of Tel Shukr in Al-Dashisha district in Al-Hasakah canton. She is from Al-Jabbour clan, studied primary school at Heddaj School in Al-Dashisha, and preparatory school in Al-Shaddadi district.

Hind is one of the victims of underage marriage, as her parents married her when she was 15 years old to an Iraqi man who divorced her while she was pregnant, and for this she returned to her family's home, and raised her daughter on her own.

She became involved in the struggle for women's freedom in the Autonomous Administration, and worked with great morale and effectiveness despite being subjected to pressure from her family. and as a result of her struggle, she joined in November 2020 to work in the People's Assembly in Tel Al-Sheikh.

Hind was greatly affected by the martyrdom of Hevrin Khalaf at the hands of ISIS mercenaries in 2019, and that is why she engaged in women's freedom struggle in the face of men's authoritarianism, and her goal was to be the voice of women.

Saada Faisal Al-Hermas

Saada Faisal Al-Hermas was born in the town of Tel Shair of Al-Dashisha district in al-Hasakah canton in 1993. She was married and had two children, and because she separated from her husband, she took up the raising of her daughters.

As Hind, Saada wanted to struggle within the Kongra Star to be a vanguard in women's struggle within the areas of north and east Syria, and she was able to fulfill her desire, as she was elected as a co-chair of Al-Dashisha District Council in November 2020.

Saada Faisal Al-Hermas and Hind Al-Khedr were kidnapped by ISIS mercenaries on January 22, 2021, and the mercenaries killed them brutally.

Barin Kobani

Amina Omer, the nom de guerre is Barin Kobani, was born in al-Shahba canton in 1992, and in 2015 she joined the ranks of the Women's Protection Units to get rid of the authoritarian mentality of men. Barin began her struggle in Afrin, completed her first training in Afrin, and joined the military work. In 2017, she joined a military and intellectual training course at the Martyr Sheylan Military Academy in Afrin.

Barin was known among her comrades for having a spirit of sacrifice and redemption, and she used to fight and resist in the face of all forms of violence. While the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries launched their attack on Afrin, Barin was surrounded with 25 of her comrades, and with great difficulty, she managed to persuade her comrades to get out of the siege, and remained fighting with one of her comrades until they managed to rescue their comrades. The two heroines fought until the last bullet left with them. On February 2, 2018, she was martyred in Bulbul district of Afrin canton.

It became clear later that the fighter in the ranks of the Women's Protection Units, Barin Kobani, had been martyred after being tortured by the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries, and the effects of torture were clear on Barin's body while the mercenaries showed video scenes of her after her martyrdom.

The brutality of the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries, and their crimes against humanity were not committed against the two martyrs Barin and Amara only, as these crimes are basically a policy followed by the Turkish occupation, ISIS mercenaries and other mercenary groups that work under the Turkish state.

Amara Rainas

Aziza Aslan, the nom de guerre is Amara Renas, was born in Amuda district in Qamishlo canton, and had two brothers and two sisters.

Amara studied to the preparatory stage, and joined the Women's Protection Units in 2016, and was martyred in the village of Jalabi in Girê Spî / Tel Abyad canton at the hands of the Turkish occupation mercenaries from the remnants of ISIS mercenaries, whom the Turkish state is trying to grant legitimacy under the name of the “Syrian National Army.”

Erdogan's mercenaries published video scenes on their social media webpages, showing how the mercenaries mutilated the body of Amara Rinas who was martyred on October 21, 2019, that is, after the declaration of the ceasefire.

D.H

ANHA