BEHDİNAN – YJA Star guerrilla Zîlan Avrîn, who fought against the invading Turkish state’s chemical weapons attacks for 47 days in the Martyr Berxwedan War Tunnels in the Martyr Şahin Resistance Area in Zap, evaluated the developing resistance process and the conditions under which the guerrilla displayed heroism.
As a witness, Zîlan Avrîn expressed the invading Turkish army’s use of chemical weapons, how it destroyed war tunnels with banned bombs and how it committed war crimes:
“My name is Zîlan Avrîn. I am from Afrin city of Rojava. My family is patriotic. The attacks on Afrin in 2017 affected me a lot. The Turkish state was killing everyone, including children, the elderly and women. Gangs beat my mother one day; this was very difficult for me and this event became my reason for participating in the struggle areas. Then I joined the guerrilla ranks and moved to the Zap area. We made a preparation against the enemy in the Martyr Şahin Resistance Area. We didn’t have many opportunities. There was not even water, but despite the difficult conditions, we made all our preparations against the enemy. There was a huge crowd at that time. But all my friends were making these preparations with great enthusiasm and morale. Our aim was to defeat the enemy in Martyr Şahin. The leadership has a word; ‘If you don’t sweat in life, you will shed your blood in war’. We also work for our Leader and our people.
The enemy launched an invasion operation against Zap in April. Our preparations against this operation in Martyr Şahin were complete. Every time the enemy tried to land, the guerrilla was hit and they failed. Before the final attack of the enemy, the area was bombarded with planes. First airstrike. Later, they entered the Martyr Şahin area, but since they could not fight hand to hand, they started attacking with chemical weapons. We were taking our measures with the resources we had. When four of our friends took our position, we carried out strong actions against the Turkish soldiers. Turkish soldiers were also using all the technical and chemical weapons at their disposal, yet they could not break the will of the guerrilla. We only had a Kalashnikov against the enemy’s technical and chemical weapons. Despite this, the enemy could not approach the war tunnels.
Even if we are forced, we will not allow the enemy to occupy our lands comfortably.
Since the enemy could not fight hand to hand, they were constantly bombarding our positions. It had damaged the tunnel in the last bombardment, and we were impressed. At the moment of the explosion, heval Bager was thrown to one side and I to the other, we were hurt a lot. We also had a hard time because of the dust formed after the explosion. I went to where Heval Bager was, but he wasn’t there, so I found him on the other side. He had been hit in the head, and he was hurt too. Since we could not walk, we tried to reach the friends below by crawling. When Heval Bager reached the manga, he fainted. Our resources were very limited, we did not have enough stocks of medicine to save a person’s life. It was camaraderie that kept us going. When I checked on Heval Bager, his ears were stuffed with dirt, and he was in so much pain from a blow to the head. He couldn’t stand up. I forgot my own pain because I was taking care of Heval Bager, but I couldn’t stand up either. We were badly injured from the pressure.
Even when Heval Bager was wounded, he said, “No matter what happens, no matter how limited our means, even if we struggle, we will not allow the enemy to occupy our lands comfortably. Their strength is their technique, ours is our belief in Rêber Apo.” We had nothing but our Kalashnikov, but our faith, our will was stronger than the enemy’s technique. Leadership always says that the greatest technique is human.
The enemy was using chemicals heavily to enter the tunnel. In their last chemical attack, they first used pepper spray. Of course, we were affected by pepper spray until we took our precautions. But then we took action against the enemy.
After the use of pepper spray, the enemy used a burning rubber-smelling gas this time. When the enemy attacked with chemicals, we were taking action immediately. Then they used a gas that had a sweet in taste and odorless. The effects of this chemical weapon were too great, we had a headache, our pulse was increasing very fast, we were becoming unconscious. When we tried to stand up, we felt like we were going to fall. Of course, we took immediate action. Again, they used a yellow chemical gas. It was a gas that inflicted wounds on the body, ached in the head and stomach, and increased the heart rate. It was a very effective chemical. We couldn’t raise our arms. Although we were wearing clothes, we had wounds on our back, stomach and fingers.
24 different chemicals in one day
Especially as three friends, we were very influenced by the use of chemical weapons. For example, friends were talking to me, but I could neither answer them nor stand up. I couldn’t even lift my arm. Heval Avzem and Şervan were also affected by chemical weapons in this way. We could not open the door of our squad for three days because the enemy used chemicals in a row. We couldn’t get oxygen because we couldn’t open the door. This affected us very badly. As such, we were getting tired. This situation lasted for a week.
Meanwhile, the enemy tried to enter the tunnel again. We could hear the conversations between them, they were announcing to us that they had entered from the north of the tunnel. However, they exaggerated because they were too afraid. They said that since they could not get inside, they would call their commanders to ‘surrender’. However, they knew very well the will of the PKK members.
When they could not enter the tunnel, this time they detonated a bomb and closed the tunnel. Then they used chemicals again. They used different chemical weapons 24 times in one day. When they used yellow chemicals, yellow water came out of our nose and mouth. Of course, we didn’t know what effect it would have. Especially yellow water was flowing from our noses.
Enemy soldiers burned their bodies
We planned to take action against the enemy using intense chemicals. We couldn’t go without masks anyway. We carried out an action against the soldiers who were at the gate of the tunnel with masks and oxygen cylinders. At that time, we noticed that heval Bager and the smell of a burned bodies were coming inside. When we looked outside, we saw with our own eyes that the enemy had thrown the bodies of several soldiers on top of each other. For the Turkish state, its soldiers are of no importance.
After the action, we returned to our place again. Friends had dinner. We couldn’t eat because of the smell of the corpses and the chemical weapons. Heval Avzem and Bager insisted that we should eat something and stand. Friends were also feeding us sugary things to keep us energetic. Chemical weapons harmed all living things. For example, there were little rats in our camp; The rats were swollen after the chemical weapons attack. Normally, rats run away when they see movement, but they were so influenced that they could not even walk. We were affected when chemical weapons even came into contact with our belongings. The water we drank from the glass left a bitter taste. So we were trying not to use anything the chemical came into contact with. We were taking precautions to prevent the chemical from coming into contact with our spoons, glasses and supplies.
Our hair was also falling out due to chemical weapons and explosions.
Opportunities were limited in Martyr Şahin, there was no water to wash our hands and face. The friends had to wear the same outfit for three months. Both the chemical and the dust generated during the attack remained on our clothes. That’s why we got a very bitter taste when our hands touched our clothes and touched our mouth.
Our hair was also falling out due to chemical weapons and explosions. One day, we had the opportunity to collect and wash our clothes. It was like 6 o’clock. The enemy’s air movement had begun. Two friends went to wash clothes. I was on duty, heval Bêrîvan was washing clothes. Despite being masked, hevan Bêrîvan could not stand it any longer because of the heavy chemical smell in the tunnel and left. Heval Arjin came instead.
Since our clothes were not drying, chemicals were contaminating and then contacting our body. We were changing our clothes once a week as much as we could, but some of our friends did not have spare clothes. Due to the effect of chemical weapons, our hair was falling out a lot. We wanted to cut it out for a while. When Heval Arjin told heval Bager this, he was very impressed; ‘It’s early, don’t rush,’ he said. When the enemy made an air attack or used chemical weapons, our hair was getting tangled and we could not comb it. Our opportunities were also limited, so we cut it off.
We risked everything to defeat the enemy. That was the attitude of my friends. It is difficult for people to express the stance, struggle and resistance of those friends. Although he had just gotten to know Heval Avzem and heval Bager, he was very impressed by her stance. He said, ‘I want to be like Heval Bager and Viyan, reach their level’. All of our friends thought that we should be worthy of this people. Heval Bager was waging a selfless struggle along the lines of Rêber Apo. He said that despite the limited resources, he felt the Leadership at the most difficult moment and that he gained strength from it.
All of your friends put up a great fight for 47 days. The relationship of all comrades with each other was very meaningful. One day, when we went to the window, we saw two Turkish soldiers fighting. They clung to each other, insulting each other. When we received the the enemies, we were saying ‘Come and get your bodies’, but they did not even claim the bodies of their own friends. They cremated the bodies of friends who were with them a few minutes ago.
No matter what, we will make it
I have been in the Kurdish Freedom Movement for years, I met many valuable friends, but the comradeship of heval Bager, Şerzan and Militant was very different. For example, when a friend was depressed, they always supported him. Heval Bager was always saying, ‘I get very upset when a friend of mine is depressed’. We stayed together for days, but no one broke anyone’s heart even for a day. Friends always said, ‘We will succeed no matter what’. We were struggling with this belief and determination. Each friend gave each other morale and strength.
The enemy has increased its chemical weapons attacks even more in recent days. Some of our supplies were destroyed in the chemical attack, and we could not use it because poison was added to our drinking water. We could neither wash our mouths nor drink.
Three soldiers had entered the tunnel. One was named Aslan, one was Bora, and the other was Melih. Two of them died, while Melih was injured. Later he died too. Thereupon, the enemy intensified their attacks even more. They wanted to take their corpses, so we did, but then they burned those corpses.
Everything about us was destroyed in the explosion where the Turkish state burned its soldiers. We thought we’d sit down with friends and discuss our exit from the tunnel. Heval Bager nett; “I will not leave Martyr Şahin no matter what,” he said. We said that we would not leave the Martyr Şahin area, we would only come out of the cave. Then we could hit the enemy as well. But when heval Bager did not want to go out, Avzem and comrades Arîn did not want to go out either. By a common decision, 4 friends remained. We knew that the remaining friends would do bouncer action. We said goodbye to our friends. It was very difficult for us to say goodbye to our comrades with whom we had been fighting in the same place for days. When we came out, the distance between us and the enemy was not much; It was about 25 meters. A few hours after we came out of the cave, there was an explosion sound, we thought our friends were doing a bouncer action. When we heard the sound of the explosion, we felt that a piece of our soul had been ripped out. We know that these brutal attacks of the enemy will not go unanswered, and the revenge of your friends will be taken.
Comrades Avzem and Bager are the children of all Kurdistanis.
No matter what, we knew that we had to fulfill the perspectives that our friends gave us. Our road was very long. In order for our people to see the truth, we had to deliver the documents we had intact. Our people should have seen what happened. On the way we were both hungry and thirsty. Friends were eating grape leaves. We thought we’d just go to our place firmly. There was a great responsibility on us; no matter what, we should have given these photos and images to friends. On the way, the enemy’s air mobility was too much. He had a lot of confidence in the enemy technique, but still couldn’t get us out of our way. We also had photographs and videos of the soldiers.
Our people should see this truth. Comrades Avzem and Bager are not just the daughters or sons of a family, these martyrs of our friends are the children of all Kurdistanis. Everyone needs to take more care of the martyrs. Now is the time to liberate the Revolutionary People’s War and Rêber Apo. What we want from our people is to know their enemy better; freedom fighters know how guerrillas are fighting in the mountains. Because there are thousands of Avzem and Bager at this party. Whoever is 7 to 70 against the enemy should do whatever he can. The guerrilla is the people, and the people are the guerrilla. Our people should not remain silent against these brutal attacks of the enemy. The people of Kurdistan should be proud of the guerrilla and take care of their martyrs. This is what we expect from our people.
The enemy called the invasion operation ‘Claw Lock’. The enemy who wanted to destroy us in the Zap and they were locked in there. Avaşîn experienced the same defeat in the areas of Metîna and Bakur. No matter what weapons the enemy attacks, he will not be able to break our will. They will not be able to enter our lands so easily. Since the invasion operations, the enemy also knows that he has been defeated, but he cannot admit it. I repeat once again the promise that I will fight this enemy on the lines of heval Bager, Avzem, Zîlan. We will definitely avenge our martyred friends. The price we pay does not weaken us; on the contrary, it increases our anger and hatred towards the enemy. We will avenge every loss they inflict. As Heval Bager said, “we will give whatever price we have to pay for our people, for our Leader. We will never kneel to the enemy and we will not bow down.”
