Kongra Star: Zilan empowers free womanhood, commitment to cause

On June 30, 1996, the martyr Zilan (Zainab Kanaji) carried out a self-sacrificial operation in the center of Dersim, targeting a Turkish occupation army ceremony, in response to an assassination attempt against Leader Abdullah Ocalan on June 6 of the same year.

On the 29th anniversary of her martyrdom, Kongra Star issued a written statement, in which it commemorated not only Zilan but also all martyrs of June and the self-sacrificing women martyrs who, like Sema Yüce, Viyan, Rehşan, and Fattiriya, turned their bodies into bridges to freedom.

Kongra Star opened its statement with a brief message that Zilan had addressed to Leader Abdullah Ocalan: “You must not give up your freedom so easily; we must understand how precious our homeland is.”

The statement emphasized that Zilan, through her operation, became an eternal icon and laid the foundations for a philosophy of resistance that embodies the resisting, intellectual, and political free woman, one who bears a deep sense of responsibility and belonging to her people’s cause.

It added, “What Zilan did was a true embodiment of commitment and sincere loyalty to the Kurdish cause. Leader Abdullah Ocalan described her as the manifesto of women's freedom in the 21st century,” noting that, “Comrade Zilan is my leader, and I am a fighter in her ranks.”

Leader Abdullah Ocalan also viewed Zilan as a model of the Kurdish woman who is conscious of her homeland and deeply immersed in the socialist path, calling her “the queen of the martyrs of the Kurdish liberation movement” and “a courageous free woman” whose bold self-sacrificial action marked a turning point.

Zilan’s words before her martyrdom, “I want to live a meaningful life and carry out a great operation”, continue to echo in the hearts of generations, embodying the highest meaning of a purposeful, humanistic, and existential struggle.

The statement noted that Zilan redefined life through her resistant path, fulfilling her duty to her people and striving to build a free, democratic, moral, political, and ecological society. Her operation was considered a “new birth certificate” for the Kurdish liberation movement and the beginning of a vision for a women's army. She broke imposed chains and paved, with her own body, the way toward peace and liberation from slavery.

Leader Abdullah Ocalan remarked that “Zilan’s operation surpassed me, and from now on, I can only follow in her footsteps,” in recognition of the example she set in willpower and sacrifice.

The statement noted that many martyrs followed in Zilan’s footsteps, including martyr Sema Yüce. On behalf of Kongra Star, it concluded: “We renew our pledge to Comrade Zilan and Leader Apo to continue on the path of struggle until the goals of the martyrs are fulfilled and women's freedom, democracy, and true peace are achieved, in line with the ideology of the Democratic Nation Manifesto.”

Kongra Star attached excerpts from the letter written by martyr Zilan before carrying out her operation, addressed to Leader Abdullah Ocalan.

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