BERÇEM CÛDÎ

Kobanê- ISIS, known as the most dangerous terrorist organization of the 21st century, was defeated in Kobanê thanks to the resistance led by women. Those who witnessed the resistance pass stories and their memories of the resistance down to the new generation. 41-year-old Kelîma Şewket Demîr is one of them. She grew up in a patriotic family in Kobanê. When ISIS started attacking Kobanê, she reluctantly went to Northern Kurdistan. After staying in Northern Kurdistan for two days, she returned to Kobanê in order to fight ISIS. She witnessed the killing of many people in the resistance. She remembers everything as if it happened only yesterday although eight years have passed since the resistance.

‘The attack on Kobanê was an international conspiracy’

Kelîma Şewket Demîr thinks the attack of ISIS on Kobanê was a part of an international conspiracy. “We can define the resistance in Kobanê as the resistance of the Kurdish people for existence. The attack of ISIS on Kobanê was a part of an international conspiracy because ISIS did not organize on its own. The Turkish state, which is a NATO member, supported ISIS. For this reason, I think the AKP leader Erdoğan is the head of ISIS and wants to make the caliphate of ISIS permanent. On November 29, 2014, ISIS besieged Kobanê from three sides. Only the border of Northern Kurdistan was open and Kurdish people living in Northern Kurdistan supported us. At that time, Erdoğan gave ISIS four hours to occupy Kobanê. For this reason, Erdoğan said, ‘Kobanê has fallen, it will fall’. Thanks to the fighters of the YPJ/YPG and other Kurdish groups, Kobanê did not fall. In January 2015, they declared their victory. A heavy price was paid in Kobanê. We can say that the blood of the youth from four parts of Kurdistan and the international youth have united in Kobanê.”

‘I was handing over the martyrs to their families’

When we asked Kelîma Şewket Demîr how she had survived in the battle, she said, “I grew up in a patriotic family having martyrs. For this reason, I joined the resistance in Kobanê. I joined the resistance despite everything. I was identifying those who were martyred in the resistance; I bandaged their wounds and washed them. Then, I took the martyrs to the morgue and waited for their families. We did not want families to see the wounds of their children. At that time, many people joined the resistance, so identifying the martyrs took several days. Now, there are many nameless graves in the Martyr Dicle Cemetery.”

‘Kobanê was liberated thanks to the courage of women’

“The Kobanê Resistance became known all around the world thanks to the resistance of the YPJ fighters,” Kelîma Şewket Demîr said, “The first resistance of the women took place in a school of the Serzûrî village. A group of women fighters commanded by Martyr Sozdar waged a great resistance in that school to prevent ISIS from entering Kobanê. I did not see Arîn Mirkan and Viyan Peyman, but all the fighters were talking about their courage and gained strength from their courage. I also prepared the shroud of Commander Zehra Penaber. I will give an example of the courage of YPJ fighters in resistance; whenever we found an opportunity, we visited the wounded and cooked for them. During one of our visits, we heard that one of the YPJ fighters had fallen from the second floor. We visited her and asked what had happened. She told us that she had fallen from the second floor because she felt weak. A group of fighters under her command was in the building. She told us that she saw two ISIS members in the building next to us. She asked the fighters to attack the two ISIS members; however, the male fighters did not attack ISIS members. For this reason, she attacked ISIS members alone. ISIS members were afraid of the commander. When one of the ISIS members saw her, he took his weapon and fled. The other threw the commander from the second floor while fleeing.”

‘We experienced sadness and joy together’

The liberation of Kobanê was officially announced on January 26, 2015. Those who participated in the resistance experienced different feelings due to what they had experienced during the liberation of Kobanê. “After 134-day of resistance, the liberation of Kobanê was announced in January 2015. When we heard the liberation of Kobanê, we experienced different feelings at the same time. We experienced sadness and joy together. On the day when the liberation of Kobanê was announced, my friends invited me to celebrate it. We celebrated the liberation of Kobanê by crying, singing and dancing.”

“The martyrdom of Hamza affected me’

Kelîme Şewket Demir told us the saddest moment she experienced during the resistance as follows: “The most painful moment for me was the martyrdom of Hamza, a member of the Aleppo group. I met him while we were cooking dolma for the fighters. When he saw dolma, he told us how he missed his mother. Then, he sat down and started cooking dolma with us. He had to go because the attacks on Kobanê were intensified. Before he went, we asked him when Kobanê would be liberated, and the martyr Hamza told us that Kobanê would be liberated in a short time and the whole of Kurdistan would be united. Then, we heard that he was killed by snipers. Hamza was martyred two days before the liberation of Kobanê. He could not see the liberation of Kobanê. The martyrdom of Hamza affected me a lot.”