year since the passing of revolutionary journalist Sayed Afran
Today marks the anniversary of the passing of the engineer of the free revolutionary media approach, the teacher, the school and the mobile academy of free media, Sayed Afran, who devoted his life to the cause of his people and the peoples of the region. He was an encyclopedia of the history of the Kurds and their struggle in Kurdistan, and he strove to convey the experiences of his long years to the media professionals and journalists in Kurdistan and North and East Syria.
The revolutionary writer and journalist, Martyr Sayed Afran, who worked for many years in the media field, was martyred on September 22, 2023, after a long struggle with heart disease, leaving behind a great legacy of 32 years. Sayed Afran was born in the Hina district of Amed in Northern Kurdistan in 1969. His full name is Sayed Mahmoud Afran. He was born and raised in a struggling family that grew up on the legacy of the Sheikh Saeed Piran uprising, as his grandfather was one of the fighters in the Sheikh Saeed revolution. He continued his life on the principles of struggle, searching for and revealing the truth, and defending his people and their cause.
In his early youth and during his studies, he became acquainted with the Kurdish liberation movement. After moving to study at Çukurova University in Adana, he met Gürbet Ali Arsöz, one of the pioneers of revolutionary media, who was studying at the same university. By getting to know her, he became one of her students, and during that period he had an important experience. In 1990, he joined the ranks of the struggle for freedom, and began his struggle on this basis, and had his experience in the media field in Northern Kurdistan and Turkey.
He always said, "I will not be a tool in the hands of the authorities. I am a reporter who conveys the truth, a war reporter for the sake of a people's cause."
Despite the political, security and military circumstances that Northern Kurdistan was witnessing, including genocidal attacks against the Kurdish people, most notably the killing of journalists in the streets, he defied these circumstances and continued his work in conveying the reality of life there, and performing his duty in conveying the reality of a homeland and its people.
During his struggle, he was arrested several times and was injured in the bombing of the Ozgur Ulke newspaper center.
In 1994, in Istanbul.
He then headed to the mountains of Kurdistan, conveyed the truth of the struggle for freedom with his pen, and researched the life and struggle of the guerrillas for years, and conveyed it to the Kurdish people and the whole world, following in the footsteps of those he followed, such as Gürbet Ali Arsöz and Khalil Dağ, and in this regard he wrote dozens of academic, historical and literary articles, and contributed significantly to the archive of free media, and documented his journey and career in a book entitled Journey to the Shore of Life.
He researched the progress of Kurdish society and prominent figures in other countries where Kurds live, such as the countries of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Russia, and went to every place that witnessed a Kurdish revolutionary movement
Free Media Engineer in Rojava
With the outbreak of the July 19 Revolution, there was no foundation in the media field, neither technically nor academically and scientifically. The revolutionary journalist Sayed Afran headed to Rojava to convey the truth of the democratic revolution to the world on the one hand, and to put all his services and media experience at the service of the people of Rojava and North and East Syria on the other hand.
He is considered one of the founders of the free revolutionary media in Rojava and North and East Syria. He graduated the best of the media professionals who followed the path of resistance, including the martyrs Dilişan Ibish and Nojian Arhan.
Without getting tired or bored and in the darkest circumstances, Sayed Afraan took steady and balanced steps to build a real and revolutionary media in Rojava and North and East Syria, following the approach and path of the founder of the free media, the martyr Mazlum Doğan; and the approach of the free women's media established by the martyr Gürbet Ali Arsöz. He was one of the first to study the foundations of free media and community media based on the media being a mirror of society at the Martyr Fayik Academy.
What did his students say about him?
His students described him as an engineer of the free revolutionary media approach, a teacher, a mobile school and academy for free media, and his departure is a great loss.
The revolutionary journalist Sayed Afran, who always emphasized the need to feel and sense the work we do, and to live what we write about, to be among the common people, to roam the alleys and neighborhoods, always used to say that in every alley there is a story and in every story there is a history that sheds light on the struggle of the Kurdish and Kurdistani people, he never got tired of pumping his experience full of struggle, struggle and knowledge into the soul of every person who worked in the field of media.
The martyr Sayed Afran was an encyclopedia of the history of the Kurds and their struggle in Kurdistan, he strove to transfer the experiences of his long years to the media professionals and journalists in Kurdistan.
The dean of free media in North and East Syria, the martyr Sayed Afran, laid the first brick for free media, and directed the media compass towards the truth that the colonists had hidden. He emphasized the importance of revolutionary struggle to achieve freedom and democracy, and the importance of the revolutionary people's war.
T/ Satt.
ANHA