NEWS CENTER – In the Elcewaz (Adilcevaz) district of Bedlîs, one of the ancient homeland regions of Kurdistan which was the cradle of many civilizations and beliefs, the Yerlikaya family of the Hayderi tribe lost many of their relatives due to a blood feud that lasted for years. When Filiz’ father, Hasan Yerlikaya, felt that the blood feud would also affect his family, he had to leave the country and emigrate to Adana with his wife Zarife and their three children in the first months of 1970 to break out of this blind struggle to keep out. The Yerlikaya family, having nothing in hand, worked hand in hand to survive and took care of their children as laborers in Çukurova.
In May 1971, Zarife gave birth to their fourth child at their new home in Berköy. The little girl’s arrival is like a reminder of the hope that must always be kept alive. This newborn girl brings a spring cheer to the poor house of Yerlikayas. Her mother Zarife said: “We have planted a seed of hope against oppression. It’s as if she sprouted. Her name shall be Filiz, she shall give us hope, joy and strength”.
In 1974, the family again set out on the path of migration, this time to Ebex (Çaldıran) in Wan District at the foot of Tendürek. Unfortunately, by the time she was six, Filiz and her family, who had grown up in the mountains and air of Kurdistan, were experiencing a new catastrophe. When Wan was struck by a terrible earthquake in 1977, the Yerlikaya family, who had been expelled from their homeland, again turned to the big cities and settled in the Tuzluçayır neighborhood of Ankara. Tuzluçayır was a neighborhood inhabited mostly by poor Kurds and Alevis. Filiz grew up as a witness to her own culture, but also to foreign peculiarities. In the same year, she was enrolled in Hasköy Yıldız Solfasol Elementary School due to her compulsory school age.
YEARS OF FIGHTING AND IMPRISONMENT
After such a difficult childhood, Filiz grew up hating the oppression and persecution of the Kurds. From the university to the party, from there to the activities of the organization and the Yekîtiya Ciwanên Kurd (YCK), she was constantly on the run. She decided that the time had come and that she would continue her fight in the mountains. In April 1992 she set out with nine comrades to join the guerrillas.
New difficulties awaited Filiz, who had endured many hardships with her family in the course of her life. But this time she doesn’t have to overcome the difficulties with her family, but with her hevals in battle. On their long and arduous journey to join the guerrillas, they are ambushed by Turkish soldiers at the Bazid (Doğubayazıt) border and are captured. After days of brutal torture, they were thrown into prison. After being sent to prisons in Bazid, Erzirom, Nevşehir and Kayseri, Filiz was released from prison in December 1992. After working in Ankara for a while, she set out again to fulfill her dream of guerrilla warfare.
In April she left Ankara and traveled to Istanbul and from there to Serhat. After staying in Tendürek for several months, she and four comrades managed to reach Damascus and the Chairman’s territory. From now on her life acquired a new dimension and she entered the second phase of her life. First she called herself Berîtan, the alias of Gülnaz Karataş, who threw herself off a cliff in southern Kurdistan for refusing to surrender to the traitors, and then Gulan. Filiz, who grew up in Adana, became Gulan in the Chairman’s territory.
YOUR DIALOGUE WITH RÊBER APO
She draws everyone’s attention with her seriousness, confidence and extreme discipline. With her keen mind and focus, she stayed up late, arguing with her Hevals and looking for opportunities to further her education. When she was in a reflection group, she listened to the chairman with great admiration. Gulan caught the attention of Chairman Abdullah Öcalan. Turned to him, Gulan gave assessments and analyzes of Bedlis and the tradition of sheikhship in the region. While explaining the historical influence of Islam in Bedlis, he asked Gulan questions along these lines. When Gulan replied that she had read the Quran, he asked her again, “Have you really read the Quran?” Gulan replied: “Yes, Mr. President, I have recited it seven times”. Abdullah Öcalan carefully observes Gulan’s intelligence and confident demeanor. Gulan is a good listener; she listened attentively to Abdullah Öcalan’s personal and social analyses, questioned them internally, integrated them into her personality and tried to put them into practice quickly.
FROM BREATHLESS GUERILLA COMBAT TO SACRIFICIAL ACTION
Gulan, who insisted on going to Garzan after completing her training, set off for Garzan with her Hevals after the ceremony in the Chairman’s territory on April 11. She became a guerrilla in the Amed and Garzan regions of northern Kurdistan and in the Xinêre, Qandîl and Zap regions of southern Kurdistan. After Abdullah Öcalan was arrested in 1999 due to an international conspiracy, she traveled from Garzan to the metropolises of Turkey to carry out a Fedaî action there, but returned after Abdullah Öcalan called for the self-immolations to stop.
When the congress decided to institutionalize the group, which called itself “Fedaî of the Chairman”, under the name Hêzên Taybet (Special Forces), Gulan and her comrades suggested joining the work of Hêzên Taybet. Due to her intense preoccupation with the Fedaî and the ideology, Gulan took part in the work of the Hêzên Taybet as a commander. At the same time she is a member of the board of the Free Women’s Party PJA (today: Kurdistan Women’s Freedom Party – PAJK).
YOUR ASSESSMENTS OF THE WOMEN’S LIBERATION STRUGGLE
Gulan made the following assessment at the fourth congress of the PJA: “Immediately after the Chairman’s capture, we walked with very deep feelings and great concerns, like ‘what are we going to be, what are we going to do, what will life after the Chairman’s capture mean to us?’ The process that unfolded gradually brought us to a clarity, but with the Chairman’s Manifesto the clarity became more concrete, it showed a greater determination within us. The leadership told us this: “In the Neolithic Age, woman became a goddess through her knowledge. Knowledge is the virtue of acting or doing what one has learned. If her virtue is action, then by doing so woman became human and divine. If we lost humanity, humanity lost with the fall. The only way Reclaiming humanity consists in recognizing woman as a human being in the family of humanity, and this can be achieved through the struggle for freedom. Here, especially at our Congress, we must answer the question of how humanity will triumph. In the defense papers, the chairman presented concrete perspectives and strategies on a level that can be a perspective for centuries. We are also here to create the model for concretization.” In the defense papers, the chairman presented concrete perspectives and strategies on a level that can be a perspective for centuries. We are also here to create the model for concretization.” In the defense papers, the chairman presented concrete perspectives and strategies on a level that can be a perspective for centuries. We are also here to create the model for concretization.”
THE WORKS OF HÊZÊN TAYBET SHOULD BE INSTITUTIONALIZED WITH THE ZÎLANS LINE
Gulan emphasized that the organization of the Hêzên Taybet should also be institutionalized along the line of Zîlan. Gulan gave the following assessment of Hêzên Taybet’s work:“During the women’s participation in the work of the special forces, we had serious shortcomings in terms of working according to necessity or the principle of work and adding according to the conditions of existence. There were many reasons that prevented us from participating as a woman, participating with the identity and essence of a woman, and which were caused by ourselves. Or there were serious inadequacies in women’s attitudes in ensuring a level of participation that made the work more competent, instilled confidence, and did not perpetuate an ordinary, mediocre path. This inevitably affected the breakthrough work. In this regard, having experienced some centralization and headquarters, there was unity. The women in the special units also achieved a unit. Especially after the fourth congress, the special forces became a place of opening for women. The Chairman’s defenses did that. With the Chairman’s defense writings, women’s participation has led women to make their own decisions in the special forces, to take a stronger position and to ask questions.”
*Gulan (Filiz Yerlikaya) fell on June 7, 2002 as a result of a treacherous conspiracy against Şehîd.
