This is an extract from a letter that the woman guerilla Şehîd Hêlîn Murat addressed to Jineolojî from the mountains of Kurdistan. In this part, she analyzes revolutionary personalities of men and women inside of the PKK and in history. On August 15, 1984, Commander Agit led the first action of armed struggle of the PKK. The reason for his success and vanguardship can be better understood when we understand his personality and his approach towards women.
Revolutionary men and women personalities
When we speak of the history of woman, we must also deal with it and let it be felt in the approach and method that it is the history of the re-creation of man. In the history of our party, the emergence of the free woman is also the beginning of the emergence of the free man.
Many friends from the history of our Party can also be taken up here. Especially the approach of Heval Agit (Mahsum Korkmaz) towards women is an example. In Heval Agit’s case, his great personality as a successful commander is based on his approach towards the reality of women. Heval Agit’s practice in Botan (region in Northern Kurdistan), his relationship with and cooperation with women friends in his unit, has produced many realities. It is right to highlight Heval Agit in this way. In our present resistance, when we talk about how suffocating the classical approaches of command are, this is related to the fact that the classical masculine standards could not be overcome. Only the masculine personality that fights to overcome the classical standards and has respect for women’s power to live and fight can ensure a line of success in war. The fact that Heval Agit was called “Egîdê Şêrîn” (Sweet Agit) by Abdullah Öcalan and that he is commemorated in this way in songs is related to the fact that he had moved away from classical male standards. In the educations on women’s history, I think it is very important to address and to research more about Agit’s personality and practice.
The wisdom of Heval Mazlum (Mazlum Doğan) is also an example. He approached women consciously, with knowledge, beauty and morality. It was Heval Mazlum who had brought Heval Agit into contact with the movement. The fallen friend Şehîd Baranê Zer, who fought in Agit’s unit, also had a modest personality. In his memoirs, he gave space to the first experiences of women fighters. He should be mentioned as a just and brave male personality who respected the work and toil of women. When the attachment to the women’s freedom line is understood as the basic ideological benchmark for men, a positive foundation is created. For this, Heval Fikri Baygeldi is a historical figure who should always be emphasised in the educations for the friends. For, as a man, he exemplarily was connected to the ideology of women’s liberation and was associated with the vanguard of women. This is why these personalities are historical. The joint leadership practice of Şehîd Besê and Şehîd Zeynel (Celal Barak) in Dersim in 1994 is also an example. In these cases the gender struggle was conducted in an ideological way and the friend Besê was able to bring about important changes in the friend Zeynel. How a real gender struggle can increase the struggle potential in a region can be seen in Besê’s personality. It is important to address Besê as a female personality who transformed the friends Zeynel and Ayhan. The greatness of the friend Zeynel, on the other hand, is shown in his respect for the commander Besê, who played a leading role in life and war. There are many such examples. It is important to make this heritage visible. So when we give education on women’s liberation, we have to focus on the transformation of men. Because that is the success of the resistance of the free women. If only we could write down in a novel the joint struggle of Agit, Hawa, Ayşe and Azîme during the war in Botan [in the 1980s] or the practice of Besê and Zeynel in Dersim [in the 1990s].…
Another important point is to address the legacy of women’s reality in the society of Kurdistan in the past and present. We have important facts that can present the legacy of the Neolithic culture with great care. It is a task of the Jineolojî to look at the world and our social reality in this way and to continuously make visible the world of women, their social role and mentality. In this regard, the realities of the tribes, denominations, faiths, in the mountains and cities must be compared and women’s culture made visible. When we do personality analysis, it leads to greater success for personality and consciousness development if the women’s and men’s realities of the respective social structure are included. It is also important to relate and deal with the realities of men as hunters, traders and lovers. It is important to define rape culture and fascism as a reality of the male domination mentality. In recent years, I have also been exploring the reality of the free woman in the mountains, the woman fighter and her history. In doing so, I have made some important realizations. I have seen that brave, fighting women were present not only in Kurdistan, but everywhere where there were strong Neolithic cultural influences. From Anatolia and the Arab world to Europe, this era was strongly lived. It was important to see that in the mythology of Anatolia, Artemis was as well known as Apollo as the goddess of defense with her bow and arrow. Artemis is in continuity with Hurrian culture and is known as the protector of young women and archer. The fact that Artemis’ arrows were made of gold shows that she represents and defends the Neolithic culture. She and Apollo are twins. Artemis aroused the greatest interest in me. Apollo’s arrows are also silver. As we know, copper, silver and gold were used in Neolithic engineering and technology.
On the other hand, the god of war Ares and the goddess Athena, known as the goddess of Athens and created by Zeus, are symbolized in Greek mythology by bronze and iron arrows. In other words, they defend the civilization culture and represent war, destruction and plunder. These mythologies illustrate the distinction between the culture of battle as bravery and devotion, and that of war for destruction and plunder. On the other hand, the Amazon fighters are associated with Artemis. There are even narratives that say they were her sisters in faith. They show how widespread and important the existence of women fighters was. In the 13th century, in Anatolia, there was a women’s organization called “Bacılar” (sisters) who, in addition to economic activities, also defended their cities as fighters. They defended the cities against the brutal attacks of the Mongols. The Amazons and the fighting sisters are valued as good horsewomen and skilled fighters with bow and arrow. In Anatolia, the Bacılar sisters are known as Turkmen women. In the Arab world, women are also written about as good horse and camel riders who fought in wars. In the Islamic period, this culture continued among women who belonged to the tradition of Ahl al-Bayt. Women participated as warriors in the war against the tyranny of Muawiya. Fatma, Ayşe and Zeynep are some of these women.
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