BEHDÎNAN – The HPG press center has published the names of four guerrilla fighters who fell at different times in the Zap Şehîd resistance area. The HPG explained:
“The brave daughters and sons of Kurdish society, who are fighting heroically in the ranks of Kurdistan’s freedom struggle, are selflessly fighting under the most difficult conditions for the honor and future of our society. Our comrades Mahîr, Toprak, Delîl and Destan, who put up historic resistance to the invasion attacks of the colonialist fascist Turkish state and made every area where they were impassable to the enemy, fell to Şehîd. Our comrades who lived sacrificially and fought without hesitation in the ranks of the Fedaî, dealing heavy blows to the invaders, left us, their comrades who stayed behind, an unforgettable legacy of struggle. Our comrades Mahîr,
The identities of the fallen guerrilla fighters are:
Nickname: Mahîr Başkale
Name, Surname: Ali Polat
Place of Birth: Wan
Mother – Father: Zehra – Fehim
Date & Place of Martyrdom: August 29, 2022 / Zap
MAHÎR BAŞKALE
Mahîr Başkale came from the district of Elbak in northern Kurdistan. Elbak is a resistance-ridden region in Van Province near the Rojhilat border. Mahîr grew up in a welatparêz family and a resilient environment. The Turkish state tried to force his family to work as village guards for the state. The family refused and faced severe repression. Because of this, she had to migrate to Wan City. There, too, repression continued. Despite this, the family remained closely connected to the resistance. The torture and repression experienced by Mahîr generated great anger at the Turkish state even as a child. The actions of the guerrillas in northern Kurdistan impressed him and he dreamed of becoming a guerrilla fighter himself. He fulfilled this dream in 2014 and went to the mountains. During his basic training, the cooperative connections within the freedom movement exerted a great influence on him. Although he had no war experience, he decided to go to Kobanê and defend the city as soon as the IS attacks began. In Kobanê, he fought the IS gangs with great willingness to make sacrifices. When his unit went to northern Kurdistan for tactical reasons, he was taken prisoner by the Turkish and was imprisoned for a year. After his release, he immediately returned to the guerrilla and fought in various areas. At the same time he educated himself ideologically. He trained new guerrilla fighters and spared no effort in instilling in them ideological and practical skills. Meanwhile, he also undertook educational programs himself to better understand the new tactics of guerrilla warfare. As of 2019, he took part in many battles and successful actions in the Zap region. He participated with great energy in the resistance against the Turkish invasion that began on April 14, 2022 and supported the fighters in the tunnel systems in a mobile unit.
Nickname: Toprak Canwelat
Name, Surname: Hêva Ahmed
Place of Birth: Aleppo
Mother – Father: Hanife – Muhammed
Date & Place of Martyrdom: May 27, 2022 / Zap
TOPRAK CANWELAT
Nickname: Delîl Hawar
Name, Surname:: Emrah Şanlı
Place of Birth: Amed
Mother – Father: Ayşe – Sadık
Date & Place of Martyrdom: August 5, 2022 / Zap
DELIL HAWAR
Delîl Hawar comes from the Licê region near Amed, which is deeply intertwined with the history of the PKK. His family was welatparêz and had already made many sacrifices in the struggle for freedom. So Delîl got to know repression and resistance in his early childhood. In particular, the assimilation policy of the Turkish state filled him with anger. In his search for opportunities to resist, he found the youth work of the freedom movement. Delîl was deeply involved in the activities of the youth movement, but also saw that his involvement was limited by the system. Therefore he organized himself clandestinely and took part in many actions in the cities. He got to know the PKK better and decided to join the guerrilla in 2015.
After his basic training, Delîl went to the Zap region. Under the conditions of war, he quickly learned what it means to be a professional guerrilla fighter and continued to educate himself both militarily and ideologically. In the Zap region he took part in many effective actions against the Turkish army. In particular, as part of the revolutionary operations in 2017 in the Zap region, he inflicted heavy casualties on the Turkish army. So, he played an important role in the action, during which on June 8, 2017, a Sikorsky transport helicopter was shot down and 14 members of the Turkish army died. Until 2019, Delîl stayed in the Zap region and saw many of his comrades fall. Because of this experience, he decided to continue his military education and to specialize. After training in heavy weapons, he came to the Qandil region. However, he insisted on returning to the hot war and went to the Zap region again. There he took part in campaigns immediately after his arrival and shaped them through his training and experience. He became an important commander in the region and attached great importance to the further training of his comrades. The HPG describe him as one of the“Architects of the Zap Resistance Fortress”.
Nickname: Destan Rustem Cûdî
Name, Surname:: Gerdînya Şêxo Place of
birth: Kobanê
Mother – Father: Ferîde – Ebdo
Date and place of martyrdom: July 1, 2022 / Zap
DESTAN RUSTEM CÛDÎ
The HPG conclude with the words: “We express our condolences to the welatparêz society of Kurdistan, especially to the esteemed families of our comrades Mahîr, Toprak, Delîl and Destan, who carried out every work they participated in with determination to succeed, the resistance Growing day by day through great efforts and becoming pioneers of the Bazên Zagros revolutionary offensive.”
