Komalên Ciwan said that Coordination member Çiya Rizgar fell as a martyr on 25August.
The organization shared the following statement confirming the death of its member, Çiya Rizgar:
“For years, the line of resistance that defines our ever-growing struggle for freedom has been led by our President Öcalan and our heroic martyrs. Thanks to our martyrs, through their efforts, sacrifices, and legendary resistance, our struggle for freedom has become universal and has turned into a source of hope and resistance for the entire world. Our struggle for an honorable and free life has gained a significant place in the history of humanity. All the values created, the consciousness of freedom that has emerged, and the sacrifices made have all been achieved through a great struggle. The reality of President Öcalan’s leadership has turned into the reality of victorious women and victorious youth. Surely, no struggle has ever been won easily. In this sense, our struggle for freedom has broken new ground worldwide. As President Öcalan has stated: ‘On this land, resistance is turning into a culture.’ Through his leadership, the reality of resisting guerrillas, women, youth, and the people has come forth.
Our half-century of struggle has left a great legacy and values to the Apoist youth movement in every respect. As the Apoist youth movement, we once again declare our promise, our loyalty, and our determination to every martyr, and we affirm that in the face of the truth of our martyrs we will only grow stronger. The 52-year legacy of our martyrs will remain the main force that guides and strengthens us.
On this basis, we remember with respect and gratitude our comrade Çiya Rizgar, one of the heroic pioneers of our Apoist youth movement and a member of the Komalên Ciwan Coordination, who was martyred on August 25, 2025, while receiving treatment. We bow with respect before his memory and express our condolences first and foremost to the precious family of Martyr Çiya Rizgar, and to the entire Kurdish people and youth.
Çiya Rizgar led with a stance of self-sacrifice
Comrade Çiya Rizgar joined the Apoist freedom movement with a spirit of devotion and remained committed to it until the day he was martyred. He embodied tireless struggle, unmatched participation, and a self-sacrificial stance. With his persistence in free life and his determined personality, he became a true comrade of freedom. From Northern Kurdistan (Bakur) to Rojava and in every field where he worked, Martyr Çiya Rizgar proved himself to be an exemplary and pioneering Apoist militant. Through his comradeship, labor, effort, and pioneering stance of sacrifice, he offered great leadership to the Kurdish people and youth.
Çiya Rizgar was born in 1992 in the district of Mazıdağı (Şemrex) in Mardin (Merdin), into a family that preserved Kurdish values and remained loyal to the patriotic traditions of Kurdistan. Like millions of Kurdish children forced to leave their homeland under genocide, assimilation, displacement, village burnings, and all policies imposed by the enemy on Kurdistan, he too was torn away from his land. This separation created in him a deep anger and resentment, and he never accepted living as someone else. He managed to live with his true identity, true existence, and true thoughts, and from his childhood years his Kurdish characteristics nurtured a spirit of defiance within him. At a young age, Çiya Rizgar became aware of the genocidal policies imposed on Kurdistan and entered a search for how one should live. The existing system and family realities created deep contradictions within him, and his quest for truth turned into a search for essence. Especially during his university years, when he began working within the youth movement, his search for freedom deepened, and the love for life that he expressed by saying, “You will taste the essence of this life,” began to gain meaning. That meaning became so essential to him that it turned into a passion for struggle that he could never abandon. Reaching the essence was reaching the truth, and this consciousness transformed into a deep sense of vengeance. Every act of vengeance became a return to essence. Çiya Rizgar took his first vengeance against being torn from his land by turning away from the city of Izmir, one of the enemy’s strongholds, toward the free mountains. In the Hêftanîn region, where he first went, he discovered the secret of comradeship. It was to those mountains, which transformed him from a good human being into a good revolutionary, that he owed his name, Çiya. This name was the expression of his quest to truly become himself for the first time.
From the day he joined the ranks of the freedom movement as a professional revolutionary in 2013 until the day he was martyred, Çiya Rizgar succeeded in becoming a symbol of victorious guerrilla resistance and true comradeship. Between 2013 and 2016, he took part in work in Northern Kurdistan, leaving a mark everywhere he went, on every comrade, every young person, and every family he connected with earning profound respect. By educating and organizing the youth of Northern Kurdistan, he raised a great consciousness and played a vital role in drawing Kurdish youth into the ranks of resistance, leading many to flock toward the guerrilla with determination.
In 2015, although he had joined the Martyr Ali Çiçek Academy in the Garê area, he redirected himself to Northern Kurdistan before completing it, becoming one of the pioneers of the legendary self-administration resistances. Despite his short time in education, he lived by the principle, “If you understand correctly, you apply correctly,” and strove to understand and practice the leadership of President Öcalan in every moment of life. Even a single day of education was enough for great successes, and Comrade Çiya proved this with his practice, setting a powerful example for all his comrades. He took part in the self-administration process in Nusaybin from the very beginning to the very end, becoming a cadre of victory in the struggle he had defined with the words, “We are going to make a revolution; we will be the name of success and victory.” He became a great commander of Nusaybin, whose magnificent resistance was written with great sacrifices and which struck fear into the enemy. To his comrades, those he knew, those he fought alongside in the same trenches, and those he personally laid to rest in the soil, he gave a solemn vow, answering them with the words: “To resist is to live.” Until the day of his martyrdom, he lived with loyalty to those comrades, with the effort and struggle to honor them. Among all his comrades, Çiya was remembered in a single phrase: “He is the symbol of true comradeship.”
In Comrade Çiya own words; “I do not think there has ever been comradeship in history like ours. Especially comradeship with women. The easiest and most natural thing is to give our lives for each other. No matter what I say about comradeship, it cannot be defined. What matters is to feel one another, to nurture one another, and to struggle together. When I was physically away from my comrades, I felt breathless, as if I had lost my very breath.” Comrade Çiya managed to embody the self-administration martyrs within himself. Each fallen comrade became a part of his whole, and through carrying each of them within him, he immortalized them. In this way, he came to be known among his comrades as Çiya Nisêbin, carrying the value of the martyrs. He gave the greatest answer to the most sacred duty and created respect while still alive. Thus, he became one of the epic figures of Nusaybin’s great resistance. While the self-administration process took its place in the history of freedom as the name of great heroism and resistance, Comrade Çiya fought until the very last moment of this process. Though they tried to bury him under the rubble, he brought to life the rebirth of the brave Kurdish people and Kurdish youth, turning what is called death into life. From beneath the ruins, he succeeded in becoming a “çiya” (mountain) true to his name, and he never abandoned the journey of the free mountains. From 2016 until his martyrdom, he never ended this journey: he became a mountain in the plains, made life flourish in the mountains, nurtured mountain people in the valleys, and never accepted living anywhere outside Kurdistan or beyond the mountains. Even during his illness, until his final moments in treatment, he persevered, reaching truth in the depth of meaning on the very land of Kurdistan that he so deeply loved on the path that began with the question of “How should one live?” he found the answer of how to live.
In 2021, Comrade Çiya attended education at the PKK Sakine Cansız Academy, through which he became further united with the philosophy of President Öcalan. With this, he embraced a greater participation to embody true comradeship with President Öcalan and the comradeship of freedom in his stance. Afterwards, he turned his direction toward Rojava, seeking to take part more actively in the revolution and to educate the youth and the people with the philosophy of President Öcalan. Despite his illness, he participated in every level of struggle throughout the years with tireless enthusiasm and a passion for life, becoming part of a great march. With his character, his stance, and the level of struggle he created, Comrade Çiya became one of the greatest symbols of “comradeship in life and self-sacrifice.”
It is President Öcalan who makes us march
Comrade Çiya placed boundless comradeship into the history of relentless struggle. He lived every moment with meaning, with a depth of understanding. Fighting against all negative and discouraging approaches, he drew lessons from every practice. Within the free life created by President Öcalan, he declared: “It is President Öcalan who makes us march, and our duty is to achieve his physical freedom,” and he devoted himself to constantly feeling President Öcalan more deeply and uniting with him. He read no books other than those of President Öcalan, and in all his struggle and in every training he gave, his sole aim was to explain and introduce President Öcalan. He became a pioneering youth cadre of the Apoist movement, one who managed to walk with the force that President Öcalan instilled in us. In all his assessments, Comrade Çiya stated that he was the self-sacrificial vanguard of President Öcalan, continuously transforming himself and embodying a stance of devotion. With a presence as imposing as his name, he always gave morale to those around him.
He valued his comradeship with women deeply and made it his principle to advance along the line of the free woman. Comrade Çiya, who said, “Not even a moment of ours should pass without struggle,” built strong bonds of comradeship through great struggle.
Making his own the principle of President Öcalan, “A comrade is one who raises the forehead of his comrade to touch the stars,” Comrade Çiya adopted the elevation of comradeship relations in struggle as his life philosophy. Until the day of his martyrdom, he aimed at securing the physical freedom of President Öcalan, as well as communal comradeship and a communal life. He left us with a comradeship that will never end, and we pledge to unite this comradeship of life with the physical freedom of President Öcalan.
On this basis, we call on all the youth of Kurdistan and all socialist youth to embrace the testament of the martyrs and to expand our struggle for freedom with the spirit of Comrade Çiya’s comradeship. The way to honor the martyr is to embrace his legacy. It is our fundamental duty to take the revenge of our martyrs by struggling and resisting at every moment. On this basis, we once again extend our condolences to the precious family of Comrade Çiya Rizgar, who became the symbol of “life comradeship and self-sacrifice,” and to all the people of Kurdistan, and we renew our promise to remain loyal to his memory and to fulfill his aims. Remaining true to his memory, we vow that we will surely realize his goals.
Identity details
The identity details of the martyr are as follows:
Code name: Çiya Rizgar
Full name: Arjen Yavuz
Place of birth: Mêrdîn (Mardin)– Şemrex (Mazıdağı)
Mother’s and father’s names: Ayten – Hasan
Date and place of participation: 2013, Amed(Diyarbakır)
Date of martyrdom: August 25, 2025