CENTRAL NEWS – PKK Central Committee member Qasim Engin (Nazsmail Nazlikül) was martyred in a 35-year-old airstrike in Bradost on May 27; in the form of a relentless militant, a relentless commander, a Kurd arrived in his homeland. He left behind a great legacy of revolution. The pride of work, production and endless sharing handed over to his followers.
THE LIFE THAT STARTED IN THE MARKET
From our Pazarcix. I was born in 1966. Pazarcix is located in Maraş and is a predominantly rural area whose inhabitants have migrated abroad. I also left the country at a young age. My father has been abroad since 1975. After studying in Turkey for a year or two, we moved to Germany. I have been there for 15 years. I returned to the country in the 1990s.
DIFFERENT WORLD INSIDE EACH OTHER
You are a child in the country, live with him and then leave the country. Going into a different place. This shocks you. By the time we got there the family’s plan and account was to return to the country. Prepares you again according to the country. On this basis the atmosphere you are in is very closed. You are from Kurdistan and are preparing and investing to return to Kurdistan. Imagine, you are still 7-8 years old you are divided into two worlds.
YOU ARE ALSO DIVIDED IN THE COUNTRY
There are different worlds in the country as well. You are Kurdish but when you go to school you see two different worlds. It was different when I went to elementary school. You can not speak your own language. This came to my head. When you speak Kurdish, they give it to you. There is already a break in there. The third defeat was also with the Germans. Germans, Kurds and Turks, that is, a person has been divided into three parts. Individuals who have not strengthened themselves with their own culture and are not familiar with their own culture cannot establish a good relationship with different cultures, which will either lead to complete disillusionment or lead to dissatisfaction. That is, it can not stay in between.
SUCCESSFUL YEARS OF SCHOOL
I went to school there. My childhood was spent there. After I studied in Germany for 9 years, due to the success I was a foreign primary student who got the right to go to high school. So that was where I first went to high school. We were always doing sports. We were successful. We played table tennis. I also have a few prizes. I was a good football player. I was in school in different parts of the sport. Maybe it was because of the psychology of the abuse. That is, you can not live your Kurdishness, you can not live Turkish, you can not live German. You convert this pressure into energy.
COMPUTER DEPARTMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY
At that time we were two friends from around Marash and Dilok who were going to high school; me and my brother. Then the Kurds made great progress. The years I was talking about were 1983. We went to high school. We were separated from the family. Later in college I studied computer science. It was a process like this. We learned their language well.
JUST ON A JOURNEY TO MACARISTIA
Until 1985 I was trying very hard to become a real German, I was sensitive. My friends all approached me in a warm way. We went to Hungary for a trip when we were in 12th grade. We passed through Germany, no problem came out. Asked for passports in Austria and Hungary; said whether there are foreigners or not. We were 17 years old. I was and next to me was a female friend from Malatya. We both took out our passports. It was very difficult with us. There I said, ‘there is a mistake here’. Until that moment you see yourself as a German, but it really hits you in the face like a bullet.
MY RETURN WAS 1985
1985 was a year like this for many people. Neither you accept nor you know your identity. A person who does not know their identity and culture can not live well with one another. You know you can never create a synergy. If I had known my culture I could have easily lived with a German, not including myself, against which I would have taken action. When you do not know yours, show strong disapproval or leave. I changed strongly in 1985, it was a year to reach the conclusion.
In Europe I had a chance that could not be achieved by every young person; I grew up in a family. In the years 1976-77 the age was still 9-10 years old there were Apoyi in the family. Some of them were on the mountain in 1977-78. Sheikh Dirlik was martyred, Mehmet Dirlik was martyred in Bingol. In 1979 I read Fuat (Ali Haydar Kaytan) ‘s poem’ I was a man ‘. When people are successful in school age, they look at themselves a little differently and get off the ground. I returned to this land again in 1985.
BECAME THE FIRST IN KICKBOXING IN GERMANY
Like I said, I was doing sports. The sports of ping pong, running, kickboxing, taekwondo were the areas in which I was successful. On October 2, 1988, when I was at university, I became the first in Germany in 1988. I have 9 awards in kickboxing, taekwondo. I was first and second in all of Germany.
AT THE THIRD AND MOST SUCCESSFUL UNIVERSITY
I was also among the top three most successful people in college. I have always been a successful student in reading. There was no intelligence or ingenuity at the core of this success. Maybe because he always felt oppressed, tried to accept himself, so he was always successful. Even in such a case a great deal of energy is created.
THE GROUP THAT ENGÎN SÎNCER ALSO WAS IN
We had a group before I joined the fighting ranks. We grew up with our friend Erdehîd Erdal (Engîn Sîncer). My childhood friend was a teenager and a militant. We went through all three stages together. Let me talk about that group; We were active in 1986-87. Our group were all working children. Erdal also had a friend. I was a group kid at 21 years old. We had a singing group, I worked the group. Martyr Erdal was 17-18 years old. We played football. Then we formed football teams. Erdal’s friend was a unique football player. Our group were all students. The group then affected dozens of people and joined the ranks.
HIS FRIEND ERDAL
Erdal was a few years younger than me. We were not together, we met on the weekend. He came to me and said, “There is a lesson.” I also taught him a lesson for two hours. I was smart in some areas, like math, physics, chemistry and electronics. I told him for two hours, going to get a very good note. He was very smart. The flower was our group. I did not hear that he had left anyone’s heart. Wherever he was, he was loved. He was a talented footballer. He was very successful in school, no matter what he did, he excelled in that field. Someone was bored. Everyone in the family loved it. All the members of the house were like that but Erdal had a special place among them all. Erdal pulled everyone towards him.
PROMISE FOR MEHMET DÎRLÎK
In the year 78, my cousin Mehmet Dîrlik was brutally murdered in Çewlig. The first march in Bazarcix was because of the martyrdom of my point. There we saw a picture of him. The placards read, “Martyr of freedom and independence, Mehmet Dirlik is immortal.” In 1983, I went to my grave. The same inscription was written on the side of the tomb. Then I promised, “I will definitely come to these mountains and I will take revenge on him.”
JOURNEY TO THE MOUNTAINS
Experience, search, promise for my point and some other factors came together. In 1989 I joined. Then I came to the Leadership area. From Aleppo we went to .Afrin. For me the color of the soil changed. I asked the driver ‘Is this Kurdistan?’ When he said yes, I got out of the car and kissed the ground. When we moved forward there is a place called Kefercan. There I went down, I kissed the ground, the ones there were amazed too. Returning to the country was an identity and search for existence for me. The arrival of the country took place on this basis. Unification with the mountains was based on this principle. Until equality is achieved, I am in these mountains. We do not accept to look down on others.
THE WILL SHOULD NOT BETRAY
I came to the mountains with the understanding that revolution is a difficult, sharp and long way. I got involved, got training and went again. When I joined I did not say goodbye to my family but I went to Erdal’s family. His mother said, “You must be strong, you must be our honor, there is no betrayal in this work.” This was the will of his parents.
ERDAL WAS IN THE MOUNTAINS
Erdal was in Çirav in the late 94’s. I knew he was there, but Erdal had just learned that I had arrived. Despite Martyr Life we were sitting somewhere. I was talking to my friend Erdal, he did not know her. There are holes in the Light. I saw Erdal get out of there. At that moment my heart stopped, his color and face also changed. Came with only his outstretched hand. We did not embrace each other. We were both surprised. We stared at each other for about ten minutes. We never talked. Then Friend Life warned us. I wrote later. Friend Erdal also read that memoir. I said in memory, ‘I really wanted to hug. An Unparalleled Embrace ’He had read and laughed. Then he said ‘Let me tell you something, the same feeling happened to me’ Because we hadn’t seen each other in years, when we met we just shook hands. Erdal and I met like that in the mountains. A year later we met at the congress, then by chance our battalions were side by side. Again we attended a military council meeting. We stayed together in the years 94-95. In the winter of 97-98 we were in tactical training. That winter, we talked a lot, then we really didn’t get along. A few years later we actually met at the Ayhan Martyr Square. I was in Kurdish school. I went upstairs. Called the device, ‘Vehicles have arrived, I am leaving’. We did not say goodbye and left, we never saw each other again.
THE PROMISE WAS GIVEN TO ERDAL
I am from Bazarcix. We admired our Kurdish. We grew up with Kurdishness and we came with Kurdishness. Our Kurdishness was a different Kurdishness. Like living something we had not experienced. Therefore returning to the country is a matter of identity. Ownership and authenticity is. There is. I have been in the mountains for years. Of those from outside the country involved, the most remaining is me. I have a goal to make this record bigger. The best thing would have been for me to do this with Erdal. We had a promise ‘We will not fall’ but unfortunately he was killed in an accident.
A NATION THAT BUILDS ITSELF
I did not find cold, hunger, fatigue and thirst as difficult but there are difficulties in this task, people turn a blind eye to Golgotha Hill. Like Jesus he knew he would be crucified but still go to Jerusalem. There are no challenges to revolutions, but it is the job of writers to point them out. Revolution is to put people in trouble. When human resources are available, it rebuilds itself. As in the example of Prometheus the militant also builds his own sources of power and must create himself every day. A militant who is unable to build himself up every day will not be able to walk to Golgotha. Revolution is a long-term job. To succeed in this one must build oneself up every day. For this Leader, martyrdom and the hope of the people are the sources of power. For me one of the sources of power is Erdal. Hence the surrender of that power and the march towards Golgotha itself is revolutionary. Revolution is the art of marching towards Golgotha. How successful we are is another matter but our claim to success is huge.
UNDERSTANDING MYSELF
In the mountains I came to see myself. There is Kurdistan in it, there is love, there is love, there is freedom, there is socialism, there is love for the country, there is search, there is all that, but I also have these things. I am not saying this on the basis of selfishness. The PKK, in its broadest sense, is a movement of possession and acquisition of identity.
Comrade Qasim lived the dynamism of the spirit of youth until the end, re-creating himself on the basis of the paradigm of Leadership, on the basis of the line of women’s freedom. Became one of our pioneers who tried to be friends with women. She witnessed the resistance and insistence of Kurdish women on freedom. In every field of work, friendship with women has been based on the principles of freedom, with the idea that the will of women will liberate men as well.
