The life of every Kurdish woman struggling against the existing nation-state system is a history of struggle and resistance in itself. Fadile Yılmaz is one of these women who resisted the imposed social roles on the one hand and the oppression and violence of the state on the other. We share the experiences of Fadile Yılmaz, who was forced to migrate with her family from Nêreh village in the Qileban (Uludere) district of Şirnex (Şırnak) province to Mexmûr Refugee Camp in the Federated Kurdistan Region due to the imposition of village guards in the 1990s. 

 

MALE-STATE VIOLENCE

 

“We are 9 siblings, 7 girls and 2 boys. We spent our childhood in the village. In addition to the oppression of the dominant men in the society, there were also attacks and violence by the state. One day, both our village and the surrounding villages were blockaded by soldiers. Then houses were raided. There was an area called 'Bedlîs'. They took people there and tortured them severely. Then they massacred them. Not even the bones of those people were found. Then the state entered the villages and said 'you will take our weapons and walk with us'. Village guards were imposed. But no one accepted. Kurds have been persecuted since their birth. 

 

MIGRATION ROADS 

 

We left our land because of the state's oppression and attacks. Otherwise they would have burned us alive in our homes. At that time, the state had special teams. There was a man named 'Yıldırım' in this team. The group led by him would raid our houses. They did so many things to us that we couldn't go out in front of our house. We went out to save our lives. There was İnceler village close to our village. In this village, a mother was massacred with her two children in her arms. They massacred everyone in that house. We moved to Cizîr. We stayed there for 3 months, but things got worse. We said, 'We will take refuge with our brothers' and we started to migrate. People were migrating in groups. Everyone was on the road of migration. We would stop in some places and stay for weeks and then we would start on the road again. Helicopters were over our heads every day. We stopped in the Sheranish region, where 3 YNK Peshmerga members who provided our security were martyred in the Turkish bombardment. We were hiding in caves where we stopped because of the helicopters. Our children were freezing with fear. Because the places we were in were being bombed every minute. The KDP, on the other hand, did not intervene at all. 

 

WHAT THE KDP MADE US LIVE 

 

We were on the roads barefoot with our children in our arms. We had neither a bowl of water to drink nor a piece of bread to eat. We were giving our children water with gasoline in it. The KDP would not leave us alone and was helping Turkey. At that time, a hunger strike was started in Zaxo to accept those coming from Bakûr. This action yielded results and a camp was established under the supervision of the United Nations (UN). After this decision, they took us to the Doomsday Valley and we started living there, but the KDP would come and blockade us every time. No one could even go to the front door from where they were. Only mothers could go out to meet their needs. If a man or a young man came out, they would immediately detain him. We had a shepherd, Mahmut. They killed him in front of our eyes and confiscated his sheep. We stayed in this valley for a long time. For 3 months we could not leave the house and we were defenseless. We did not have a piece of bread to eat.

 

CHANGE WITH ÖCALAN'S PARADIGM 

 

But we did not give up. It was women who suffered the most from violence and poverty. Women were oppressed and not seen in society. Thanks to Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, women were recognized. We met our own identity. Thanks to Mr. Öcalan's philosophy, we have come to these days. Women did not know their rights. Later, these invisible women became heroes. In a region like Federated Kurdistan, when you went to visit a family, women were not allowed to sit where men sat. But thanks to Mr. Öcalan, we lifted this dark veil over us. Women should embrace Öcalan's philosophy wherever they are. 

 

We made a promise; as long as we have a soul in our bodies, we will defend Mr. Öcalan's cause and ideas. The KDP attacks from the countryside and the Turkish state attacks from the air. The oppression and persecution has never ended. The most concrete example of being Kurdish is Mexmûr. No matter what happens, they will not succeed in destroying the life we have built here. Today, as in the past, we will not give up resisting oppression and oppression. Whatever the Turkish state has put us through, the KDP is putting us through the same thing. We are subjected to attacks by the KDP from the countryside and the Turkish state from the air, but we resist. We will fight against this oppression and violence until the end.” 

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut