Hozan Mezkin today is not just an artist; she is a symbol of the free woman, the revolutionary stance, and artistic creativity. She remains present in the memory of the Kurdish people, and her melodies are sung as lullabies for children and as a voice of freedom for young women.

Hozan Mezkin, whose real name is Gurbet Aydın, was born in 1962 in the village of Beleder in the Botan region. At an early age, she joined the Kurdistan liberation movement. Before the Turkish military coup of 1980, she became one of the first women from the city of Batman to join the ranks of the Freedom Movement. During that period, she participated in the intellectual and ideological work of the Kurdish movement, then later went to the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon to receive training at the Bekaa camp.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the Bekaa Valley was an area used by Palestinian factions and various political movements, and was among the regions used by PKK cadres for training. There, Hozan Mezkin received her political and military training.

The feminine touch of revolutionary art

After completing her training, she traveled to Europe and actively participated in Kurdish cultural and artistic activities. Together with artist Hozan Sifkan, she established the foundations of the "Union of Art and Culture" and the "Art Resistance Ensemble," playing an important role in the development of revolutionary Kurdish music.

Throughout her artistic career, she presented many timeless works, including:

• "Çemê Hêzil" (Hêzil River)
• "Lo Hevalo" (Hey Comrade)
• "Gundîno Hawar" (Villagers, Help!)

These songs resonated widely among the people. Despite her works being banned because she performed revolutionary songs in Kurdish, her tapes continued to spread secretly among the masses, and her songs became a voice of freedom and resistance, especially for women and youth.

Fighter and artist at the same time

After her cultural and artistic activities, Hozan Mezkin returned to the mountains of Kurdistan, where she first worked as a fighter in the Mardin region and then in the Garzan region. She was among the first female commanders in Garzan, playing an active role in military and organizational work.

Her presence as a female fighter and commander attracted great attention in the region, especially in a society dominated by a traditional feudal structure. Thanks to her personality, which combined art and struggle, she left a deep impact on women, and the local people embraced her with great love and respect.

She turned resistance into an immortal memory

On May 11, 1992, while moving from Garzan to Bitlis (Tetwan), Turkish forces surrounded the house where she was staying. She was asked to abandon her struggle and surrender, but she affirmed her belief in the justice of the cause for which she was fighting – the cause of women's freedom, identity, culture, and the Kurdish language, which had been denied. She declared that she would not retreat from her struggle no matter the cost, and she resisted until the end. Hozan Mezkin turned this resistance into an eternal symbol in the memory of the Kurdish people and Kurdish women.

In the city of Bitlis, where she was martyred, thousands of women joined the struggle inspired by her path. Many families named their daughters "Mezkin" to perpetuate her memory.

Today, on the 34th anniversary of the martyrdom of Kurdish artist and fighter Hozan Mezkin, she is still remembered as one of the most prominent symbols of Kurdish revolutionary and national art, and as a figure who combined art, revolution, and the identity of the free woman