The TEV-Çand Committee issued a statement to commemorate filmmaker and revolutionary Mazdek Ararat (Ömer Bağcı), who fell as a martyr on 13 September 2019.
The statement said: “We remember our comrade Mazdek Ararat with great love, respect, and reverence. The path he walked was a march toward freedom and enlightenment. The legacy he left us will illuminate our struggle.”
Mazdek Ararat (Ömer Bağcı), known for his identity as a filmmaker, was also a fighter in the Kobanê resistance, a grassroots cadre of the Rojava Revolution, a teacher at the Martyr Yekta Herekol Academy of Arts, and a freedom guerrilla in the mountains of Kurdistan. The TEV-Çand statement highlighted his identity as the “comrade of children, women, and the people” and an “Apoist militant.”
The statement noted that Ararat was one of the founders of the Rojava Film Commune, where he carried out significant work in the field of cinema. He was teaching, making films, and organizing festivals and screenings.
The TEV-Çand Committee described Ararat’s personality as “honest, simple, clear, hardworking, and a resistant spirit bearing hatred against oppression.”
The statement added: “The news of his martyrdom deeply saddened us all. Yet the conviction and persistence, determination and resolve of Comrade Mazdek have strengthened our struggle. His march was a march toward freedom, truth, and beauty. As his comrades and students, we will carry on this march and keep alive the legacy he left behind.”
The TEV-Çand Committee underlined that “the path opened by Mazdek Ararat and the artists who fell martyrs alongside him in the struggle for culture and art will always be a source of faith and morale.”