The Women’s Defense Forces (HPJ) in Eastern Kurdistan held a ceremony to commemorate guerrilla commander Bêrîtan Hêvî (Gülnaz Karataş), who died 33 years ago and honored the 33rd anniversary of the founding of an independent women’s army within the Kurdish freedom movement.
Bêrîtan Hêvî, who came from Dersim (tr. Tunceli) and was born in Bingöl in 1971, dropped out of Istanbul University in 1991 and joined the guerrilla movement. Just one year later, she died in the so-called Southern War. Surrounded in Xakurke by Peshmerga troops fighting alongside the Turkish army against the PKK, she refused to surrender. She fought until her last bullet, destroyed her weapon, and jumped from a cliff to her death to avoid capture.
During the ceremony, the HPJ honored Bêrîtan Hêvî’s action as a conscious decision in favor of a free life and against political captivity. “She did not bow to the line of surrender,” said the speech at the ceremony. “Her death was a turning point – both for the status of women in the Kurdish freedom struggle and for the emergence of autonomous fighting units made up entirely of female members.”
33 years of armed women’s organization
The event also marked the 33rd anniversary of the founding of the Kurdish women’s army. The HPJ recalled that since then, independent women’s structures have been established in all parts of Kurdistan—inspired by the stance of Bêrîtan Hêvî and based on the ideological foundations of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan.
“The establishment of women’s armies in all four parts of Kurdistan is an expression of the strategic decision for self-defense and autonomy,” the female fighters explained. The slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom), which has gained worldwide attention since 2022 in the wake of protests against the murder of Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini by the Iranian morality police, has its origins in this.
Eastern Kurdistan: Resistance against oppression in Iran
The ceremony also focused on developments in East Kurdistan (Rojhilat), the Kurdish-dominated part of Iran. Among other things, the HPJ commemorated the revolutionary Shirin Alamhouli, who was executed by the Iranian regime, and the martyr Zîlan Pepûle, as well as the commander Aryen Arê, who played a key role in the further development of women’s structures.
“Today, we are not only defenders, but have also become a leading force,” the statement said and called on Iranian and Kurdish women in particular to organize and join the political resistance.
Call for organization
The HPJ called on all women to actively participate in defending “the line established by Bêrîtan’s stance.” “Her final step sparked a movement that is now significant worldwide. It is now everyone’s responsibility to continue this determination. Let us preserve our unbroken willpower. Let us not only remember this line—let us fill it with life,” said the statement.
[album=21585 type=full]