ROJAVA – He kept watch day and night for days, “Everyone should come here and join the resistance. The truth is Kurdistan, not the lies of the fascist state,” he went to Kobanê. He turned grenade rounds into flower pots, remnants of resistance into museums.”
Heval Karker, 60, of Albanian origin, went to Rojava to join the YPG to protect Kobanê from the occupation of ISIS. Rıfat Horoz was the grandson of a guerrilla fighter active before the First World War. His grandparents came from an area where many ethnic Albanians live in Pristina, Kosovo, but after the First World War he was deported to Sinop, Turkey for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Heval Karker was born there and later moved to Zonguldak with her family. His father was a miner and trade unionist. For this reason, he met with strikes and rallies at an early age.
JOIN THE WINDOW MOVEMENT
After her father died in a mining accident, she moved to Istanbul with her aunt at the age of 13. This neighborhood was home to many revolutionary activities and Rifat soon mingled with the young revolutionaries in the region. He joined the Rizgari movement, a Marxist Kurdish organization that advocates the idea that the colonized Kurdish people in Turkey can only be liberated through a revolution led by the Kurdish proletariat. He marched in the ranks of Ala Rizgari (Flag of Liberation), a small separatist group of the Rizgari party, during the bloody events of 1 May 1977. He was arrested in 1978 as part of the Turkish state’s repression and liquidation of the Rizgari movement and was imprisoned in the same ward as İsmail Beşikçi. Like many revolutionaries before him, Heval Rifat used his detention as an opportunity to expand his knowledge and analysis.
REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITIES DID NOT CUT, HE KNOW THE PKK
After his release from prison in 1991, he founded a shipping company in Antep on the Mediterranean coast. However, he never stopped his revolutionary activities. After prison, he continued to contact Kurdish revolutionaries and learned about the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Later, he said: “In addition to the demands of the Apoists, there were mechanisms such as criticism/self-criticism in other organizations, but there was a blockage in the analysis. This analysis was also working in the Apoist movement. The essence of this movement was humanity.” He often found himself on the streets, at the forefront of demonstrations, working with youth activists and distributing newspapers and the magazine Democratic Nation whenever he could. He also frequently visited political prisoners.
HE GAVE HIS HOME TO A ROJAVA FAMILY, HE RUN TO THE BORDER
On September 14, 2014, ISIS attacked Kobanê. Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan called on the people to defend Kobanê, saying, “If this massacre attempt (in Kobanê) succeeds, it will both end the ongoing solution process and lay the foundations for a new, long-term coup.” Heval Karker replied immediately. He left his Sinop home to a Kurdish refugee family fleeing the war in Rojava. He immediately set out for Kobanê, but failed to cross the border. He stayed in the village of Misyanter, close to the border, and kept watch day and night for weeks to prevent ISIS mercenaries and their supplies from crossing the border and joining the battle in Kobanê. He was soon loved by the people and his comrades for his admirable personality, dedication and revolutionary spirit. In a statement he gave in October 2014, he states: “Everyone should come here and join the resistance in this life. I want them to be with the people of Kobanê. There is a field of resistance here, there is much to learn here. We have a lot to learn from the Kurdish people. Citizens who have been brainwashed by the lies of the fascist state, if they want to know the truth, should come and see Kurdistan for themselves.”
RESISTANCE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY DEVELOPED ITS PROJECTS
He undertook many projects in Misyanter, repaired damaged and ruined buildings, the Arîn Mîrkan Resistance Museum (in memory of the YPJ fighter who sacrificed himself in the Battle of Miştenur Hill in Kobanê) and the Kader Ortakaya Library (one of his fellow border guards who were martyred while trying to cross to Kobanê). in memory of someone). While describing the project, “There will be materials in the museum that will make you feel and explain the war and resistance on the border line, such as the gas bombs dropped on the border line. We must fulfill our responsibility towards humanity in this village just across Kobanê. We felt the need to tell about this war, resistance, history and drama on behalf of our comrades who were martyred heroically.”
Meanwhile, he was looking for a way to cross to Kobanê. Eventually, the YPG heard of his efforts in the border area and had him cross the border. After crossing the border, he soon began helping rebuild the city. He was now a member of the YPG and took the name Heval Karker (worker) and the surname Kobanê, which he loved so much. He decided to set up a war museum and collected hundreds of unexploded shells, mines and grenades, as well as other debris and household items, both drawing attention to stories of destruction and making the city safer for civilians to return to. He also transformed the shell casings into colorful flower pots for planting flowers.
TURNED BOMB AMMUNITIONS INTO POTS
It was clear that he loved flowers and nature very much, as can be seen from his beautiful and loving garden. This was the beauty of Kobanê. He brought the most wonderful, wild and kind souls from all over the world to a small piece of land beset with barbarism and inhumanity. The real flowers of Kobanê were the spirit of him and those like him.”
‘LET’S BUILD SOCIALISM AND THE PEOPLE’S REVOLUTION’
Martyr Karker said, “I am a witness to this war right now. I am a part of it and I am in it. I must be here against the forces that organize ISIS fascism against the system that has developed here around the paradigm laid down by our leadership. For 40 years we have shouted socialist revolution in the streets. Now we will build socialism here. Come and let’s build socialism together. Whatever kind of socialism you want, what kind of popular revolution you want, come here and let’s build it together.”
Martyr fell, became history
Karker Kobanê was martyred in the great terrorist attack of ISIS on the city on June 26, 2015. About 223 people lost their lives in this attack. Karker’s work, whose life was spent with revolutionary practices, continues to live on thanks to the museums and libraries he established and the lasting impression he left on everyone who met him.
TOMORROW: International martyrs of the Rojava Revolution: Ashley Jonston (Bagok Serhed)
International martyrs of the Rojava Revolution -I: Paramaz Kızılbaş
International Martyrs of the Rojava Revolution – II: Sarya Özgür
International martyrs of the Rojava Revolution – III: Emir Qubadi
International Martyrs of the Rojava Revolution – IV: Keith Broomfield
