NEWS CENTER
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In March 1971, a revolutionary was born in Çewlig. A revolutionary who met the revolutionary resistance of the immortal freedom fighter Sakîne Cansiz at the age of 8. She went to school in Xarpêt and already there she started her resistance against the racist system of Turkey, where she was always late for school.
After she obtained a place at the university in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul in 1989 at the Faculty of Economics, she devoted herself more and more to the work of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement. Thus, she became known at the university as “anarchist Gulnaz” and a year later she set off for Greece to see political education.
In 1991, she conducted political works within the society and was arrested by the fascist regime in Turkey in the same year and imprisoned in Bayrampaşa prison. During this time, she visited Sakîne Cansiz, the revolutionary whose resistance she had heard about when she was 8 years old. Sakîne Cansiz told her “I am from Dersim.”
After she left prison, she headed straight for the free mountains of Kurdistan. On May 9, 1992, she reached Mount Cûdî and became a guerrilla called “Bêrîtan.”
During an action in Rûbarok, Bêrîtan was injured on September 25, 1992. On October 3, the Turkish occupying soldiers and the traitorous forces in the Xakurkê area began attacks against the Freedom Kurdistan Guerrilla. The guerrillas of ARGK did not allow, let the occupiers and traitors advance even one step.
It was October 25, it was the war of being and not being on the cliffs in Xakurkê. She had fought until the last bullet and had not surrendered. She was wounded in the chest and shoulder. She answered the calls of the traitors to surrender with the words “Bijî Kurdistan, bijî PKK” (Long live Kurdistan, Long live PKK). She destroyed her weapon so as not to leave anything to the enemy and threw herself off the cliff. She became the immortal revolutionary and founder of the Women’s Army.
30 years ago, Bêrîtan Hevî, (Gulanz Karataş) founded the Women’s Army of Freedom of Kurdistan with her attitude, struggle, determination and sacrifice and became the lineage for today’s freedom fighters of YJA Star, who 30 years later are again bringing forth an indescribable resistance in the same places as Bêrîtan against occupation and betrayal.
Rêber APO impressed by the determined resistance of Bêrtîtan declared:
“A very absorbed girl in possession of intellectual strength. The peshmergas called her, said “give up, we will not harm you, we will not hand you over to Turkey and we will not torture you”, but she did not surrender to the regressive nationalists. Bêrîtan did not accept to surrender, that’s why she threw herself from the cliffs. It was not a suicide, it was an action. The line of freedom that I take seriously is this attitude. Her defense of the honor of freedom, was placed on our shoulders. This is my principle. What Bêrîtan did is the honor and the great resistance of women. The lineage of Bêrîtan is a style with us, is a confession for us.”
Heval Bêrîtan embodied the militancy of the women’s army with her attitude. She became line, attitude to the principle which thousands of young Kurdish women and young women have joined until today and with her example against the enemy who knows neither borders nor conscience, they are waging an unprecedented war based on their determination and conviction.
With the strength and conviction that Bêrîtan received from Rêber APO’s philosophy and ideology, she defended this line as a militant fighter and stood against the KDP’s betrayal and fascist Turkey’s occupation. Bêrîtan acted out of pure conviction and with this determination exerted a strong influence on her people, the movement, but also the enemy.
One of those who were incredibly impressed by Şehid Bêrîtan’s attitude is Hindirîn Methet from Kifrî near Germiyan, in southern Kurdistan. In 1992, Hindirîn participated in the war of the Turkish occupying state, with the parties from the south against the guerrillas. Hindirîn Methet told Stêrk TV about his encounter with Şehid Bêrîtan, saying, “When I arrived on Mount Xakurkê with my people, we saw the body of a female guerrilla who had fallen from the cliffs. Because we knew her identity, we didn’t know her name. But my people took a picture out of her bag with Mêrdîn written on it. We thought her name was Mêrdîn. We buried her in the area that same evening.
At the beginning, I had only heard the name PKK. But it was the first time that I saw a PKK guerrilla and I heard that a woman with a gun and some ammunition resisted against so many enemies. After her ammunition was empty, she threw herself from the mountains. In order to prevent the enemy from getting her gun, she destroyed the gun, then she threw herself off the cliff.”
Rêber APO, who at that time was trying hard to make the women in the PKK party build their own army, said in his analyses the following:
“The man is used to the fact that the woman is always under his leadership and dominance. He has such a moral understanding. A woman who is liberated from this may seem like a big blow to him, a source of trouble. A woman who is so detached from herself, who can fight and live completely free, does not fit into his mentality. You will also feel uncomfortable. But otherwise you can’t be free, you can’t answer the question of living freely. Just because it’s difficult, because it causes difficulties, you can’t give up the right understanding of the solutions.”
In another assessment, Rêber APO put it even more clearly, saying:
“Now I will briefly say something else. But in general, the case of honor should be properly acquainted. That is why I wanted to put the Kurdish woman on the. On the one hand, the man kills you and then your wife, your daughter, does I do not know what and says after that I am your axa (ruler). When I talked to the girls, I always gave the example of my mother so that they don’t get it wrong.
The man takes my life, property and belongings and then talks to my mother (to marry). If you take everything from me and kill me, what do you want from my mother? Let me say, I am my mother’s best son. You kill me, fight my mother, become the axa (ruler), take the inheritance of the weeping mother.
That is honor in our country, for example. In general, this should be done. If you do not solve this, your diligence will be in vain. No matter how much you try, they will come and sit with you for a little while. The Peshmerga say, “We will come and take the girls of the PKK.” That is their whole approach. What do you do with them to defend yourself? There was a girl, Berîtan. In order not to surrender to the regressive Kurds, she threw herself off the cliffs.
Near the village of Karakoçan. The Peshmergas were looking for her and said: “Surrender, we will not harm you”. This is the line of freedom that I take to the base. But she did not surrender to regressiveness. She took freedom to the base. The defense of the honor of this daughter, I put on my shoulders. This is my direction. That is how I evaluate Berîtan. This should be well publicized. It is the first time I say this.”
