GOOD NIGHT, MY GUERRILLA

Now the stars of love are winking one by one. In the dark night, the stars look down at us freely from the sky.

We too look up at them from the face of the earth with excitement. When one falls under their spell, this contemplation may last a long time. I am always affected by the stars and gaze at them closely for a long while. Stars often shoot across the sky, and this frightens me greatly. I fear that one day not a single star will remain in the sky and that I will no longer be able to look at them with wonder and love. A star has a very different meaning for me. When I gaze at the stars, I feel that all my comrades who fell as martyrs are there together, winking at us. Whenever I look at the stars, I think. The more I think, the more I say: how good it is that I did not betray my childhood dreams. How good it is that I came and became a child of my sacred land. How good it is that I came and became your comrade and companion on the road. On a November night, in a place like Xerzan, a very different feeling forms in my heart as I put these sentences together. I know this feeling in my heart well: it is resolute to the end and filled to the end with APOist excitement.

Now the autumn of Xerzan is preparing itself for a harsh winter. However much cold, snow and hardship there may be, it does not matter. The meaning carried by our comradeship in Xerzan is very different. Xerzan takes its meaning from our comradeship. From Mount Sîser to the slopes of Kember, from Şêx Cuma to Kûris, all these mountains and plains bear witness to our comradeship. In truth, one can say that wherever there is a guerrilla, however great the hardship and difficulty, it does not matter. The truth is that the APOist guerrilla always wants to live and struggle on the foremost front and in the most difficult place. It has now been three years since I came to these mountains and joined the guerrilla ranks. I met dozens of comrades and lived with dozens of them. Now, too, we are together with dozens of comrades at the Martyr Berçem CÎLO camp. With great excitement, morale and determination, we are all preparing ourselves for spring. Xerzan eagerly awaits winter so that it may adorn itself with white snow. We are preparing ourselves for spring, and we too await the spring. The more eagerly, hopefully and resolutely we wait for spring, the more fearfully the enemy counts the days until it comes. The enemy does not want spring to arrive, because when spring comes, the enemy cannot walk at ease in Kurdistan. It is always afraid and always seeks its remedy in brutality. Tonight is a cold night of late autumn. Tonight is one of Xerzan's nights, whose glad tidings are spring. On such a night, good night to all the guerrillas of my heart.

TRUTH…

Truth is a way of endless life that weaves struggle, searching and self-knowledge within itself. Retreat or stagnation is not accepted on the journey of truth, because every moment of life becomes part of truth to the extent that it carries meaning within it. We define our lives as the flow of truth, for truth is the philosophy, aspiration, stance and attachment of life. Truth is the reality of President APO. Truth and nature flow together in balance. The memories we lived in the valley of Şêx Cuma, at Sîser, Kember and Kûris, at Sîneger in Tetwan, and in the mountains of Heşter, Qerzeyel and Belejor in Xîzan are part of genuine truth.

The most beautiful life in the world is lived within the PKK. The PKK is an organization with no equal in the world, for the PKK is the party of Heqî, Kemal and Saraya. In the same way, it is the party of Berîtan, Egîd and Zîlan. You resist, fight and struggle for freedom, and the more you carry these things out, the more beautiful you become and the closer you draw to freedom. Another thing that binds people to one another within the PKK is PKK comradeship. PKK comradeship cannot be lived from afar. One must live fully within it from moment to moment, because that life is meaning to the end and love to the end. Love is the bond of the heart and mind. All our comrades who fell as martyrs lived with love to the end. To become part of truth, they always took right living and right struggle as their foundation. If one embraces this life with all one's heart and soul, lives President APO from moment to moment and always keeps the martyrs alive, then one understands this life well and becomes part of it. That is why ‘to fight not until death, but until freedom and victory, is the greatest love.’

MOUNT SÎSER IS THE SMILE ON THE FACE OF LIFE

On my first day, when I joined and came to Şêx Cuma, the most majestic thing that met my eyes was Mount Sîser. When one looks at Sîser from the slopes of Mount Kember, one says: if only I were a falcon and could spread my wings with excitement in the free sky. If I were a falcon, I would fly without pause, spreading my wings from Mount Kûris to the summit of Kember and from the summit of Kember to the summit of Sîser. I would stop only once, above the water that separates Mount Kember from Mount Kûris. That day, the excitement in my heart was as high as Mount Sîser. I can never put into words the feelings that filled my heart that day. I know that however much I write, something will remain missing and the words will not find their full meaning. One can therefore give meaning to that moment only by living it; one can define it only when one experiences it. The first feeling when I saw and embraced the comrades for the first time, the first feeling when I put on guerrilla clothes for the first time, and that first night when excitement keeps one from sleeping will never leave my memory. However many years, times and seasons pass, that excitement and those feelings will always be lived anew.

I often think, and whenever I think, I draw conclusions. What would have happened if there had been no Leader APO and no PKK? When one reflects on this, one can draw still more conclusions. If one takes up history, the pain and suffering endured by our people can answer this question. Had Leader APO not existed and not created the PKK, no one would then have been able to speak of Kurdish identity. Likewise, without Leader APO, I could not live today in these mountains with my free identity.

I feel very fortunate to have become an APOist member, a member of the PKK movement. In the same way, I feel very fortunate to have lived with hundreds of comrades and become their companion on the road. If I came into the world once again, I would certainly turn my face toward the mountains again and once more become a seeker of truth. It is impossible for me to be separated from the mountains, just as it is impossible for me not to become a member of the APOist movement once again. With the excitement of that first day, I wish success to all my comrades.