Ilham Omer – A life in the women’s struggle

Ilham Omer (Diya Ciwan) is one of the women in Rojava whose lives have been profoundly changed by the Kurdish freedom struggle. Omer has been participating in political work for 34 years and has been involved in a women’s shelter in Qamişlo since the revolution began eleven years ago. Omer says about the importance of the freedom struggle for women’s lives: “Women’s identity, which had been buried by the grip of tradition and custom, was brought to light again. The freedom struggle meant for us to feel a breath of freedom. I was a woman without prospects who had been married off in childhood. Today I am in a position to work for all women. I owe that to Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan], the freedom struggle and our martyrs.”

Ilham Omer, born in 1969, had to flee with her family from Northern Kurdistan to Rojava. She lost her father at a young age and was raised by her mother alone. When she was 12 to 13 years old, the family lived next door to the famous Kurdish poet Cegerxwîn. Omer reports that it was through Cegerxwîn that she first encountered Kurdish patriotism: “Cegerxwîn and his wife were both old. Our doors were next to each other and we shared a garden. I went to them again and again to help them. He talked about the Kurdish uprisings. Even though I didn’t understand everything, I still listened to him. I thus began to develop a love for Kurdistan as a child. I learned from Cegerxwîn what Newroz means.”

“Impressed by Bêrîvan”

In 1988, Omer got to know the Kurdish freedom movement. Binevş Agal (Bêrîvan) in particular left a deep impression on her. Omer says: “According to tradition, my family married me off at the age of 16. I have always suffered from that. When I met Bêrîvan, I was still a little girl. I was just at a friend’s house at my age. I saw her there. She told me how Kurdistan was divided into four parts by its enemies, how this affected women, how the social role of women was weakened and how women had to enter into child marriages and became slaves to men. She said women would now join the struggle and fight in the mountains. I found myself in her words. I was very moved by her words. I did not want to part with her any more. Just before, Cegerxwîn had told me about Kurdistan and the uprisings. But perhaps because I was still small, I had not understood it so well. When I left my friend, I invited Comrade Bêrîvan to my house. A few days later, my friend came and told me that Bêrîvan would come to our place.”

Her husband takes part in the fight

Omer continues: “If I hadn’t been married and a mother at the time, I would definitely have gone to the mountains. But I had a child. So I decided to talk to my husband first. I told my husband: ‘We have a daughter. But I love the idea of the Apoists, the PKK, and I will participate in their work. If you agree, then we can continue to live together. If you try to stop me, then take our daughter and let her stay with you. Your mother will look after her. I will leave you and go away. No one can stop me from making that decision.’ My husband was patriotic like me. He supported the PKK and its ideas heart and soul. He told me: ‘I will also take part in the work. We will fight together for our homeland.’ He really became a great support to me. Despite the social pressure, he became a comrade and carried my burden. We became a role model in our neighbourhood. When I worked, my husband took care of the children and the household.”

Omer says she was worried that her husband’s family would cause problems; but, on the contrary, she received great support from her mother-in-law, who had herself experienced the worst cruelties from the Turkish state.

“Fight and avenge us”

Ilham Omer continues: “My family had fled from Northern Kurdistan. I was born in Qamişlo. My husband’s father is from the Omeryan tribe. One of the families from this tribe works with the state. Another part, my husband’s family, had problems with the state. My husband’s father tried to flee to Rojava to avoid doing military service for Turkey. He and many members of my family-in-law were killed by Turkish soldiers. Their heads were cut off. My mother-in-law and some relatives managed to escape and came to Qamişlo. My husband and I were worried when we told my mother-in-law that we would join the freedom struggle and work for Kurdistan. We thought they would be an obstacle, but on the contrary, she said, ‘Work and take revenge on the Turkish state for us.’ That was a great support for me. My mother-in-law was a very big support. In fact, I am involved in the Kurdish freedom movement, as is my husband’s whole family.”

“Trust in women is evolving”

Despite the family’s support, mistrust and the feudal mentality were still strong in Kurdish society, but as the struggle for freedom progressed, a change began, tells Omer: “Even though the family accepted it, there was a lot of talk around. Our society saw it as strange, but I and other women insisted. When the news came that Bêrîvan had fallen, we were deeply moved. It strengthened our bond even more. We promised to continue our work even more.”

Severe torture by the Ba’ath regime

Between 1989 and 1991, Omer was imprisoned twice by the Baath regime. She recalls: “They also tortured me, but I did not give up the struggle in any way. When I was arrested for the first time, even the torture didn’t work so hard on me because the women friends had not fallen into the hands of the regime. In 1989, I had to meet two friends at a certain place. When we got on a bus in Qamişlo – without showing that we belonged together – I saw agents of the secret service. They spotted us and when we got off the bus, they chased us. We fled into the side streets and they lost our trail. They couldn’t catch the women friends, but they stormed my flat and arrested me. They asked who the friends were who were with me. When I said I didn’t know, they went completely crazy. They broke my legs in the torture. My family was able to get me out after 23 days for money.

The second time it happened, I think, was in 1991. We were at a demonstration. They had been following us. They took me away. I stayed inside for ten days. They had also taken others. They wanted to know who these people were. I knew them. They were all front-line workers like me. I said I didn’t know them. I was tortured. My family was finally able to buy my release.”

“Analyses of Öcalan stored in memory”

When Omer first learned about the freedom movement, she could neither read nor write. She says: “I listened to all the tapes that came from Rêber Apo. Every word he said moved me deeply. At that time I could not read or write, but soon I learned so much that it was enough to work in the movement. I developed the following method: I repeated all the words that Rêber Apo said in my memory dozens of times and thought about them. I really memorised them all.”

Measures against repression

Omer has been active in all areas of people’s work and reports on her work: “For example, the newspaper Dengê Kurdistan came out. I then distributed it. At that time, all work was clandestine. The regime exerted massive pressure. This was evident, for example, in our meetings. Since we were constantly threatened with arrest, we held our meetings in places with muddy streets. At that time, the city had not yet developed like that. We used to say, ‘If the regime notices us, they won’t be able to fight this mud with their vehicles.’ The strength to cope with so many difficulties and take measures against them came not only from ourselves but mainly from Rêber Apo and our martyrs.”

A pioneer of the women’s movement

Since 1988, Omer has worked non-stop for the freedom movement. In 2005, she was one of the first members of the women’s movement Yekîtiya Star (later Kongreya Star), which was founded in Rojava at that time, and with the revolution of Rojava, she was a founding member of the women’s shelters (Mala Jin) created on 8 March 2011. Omer is still working in the women’s movement and is now responsible for all the women’s shelters in Cizîrê.

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