It is our responsibility to speak about friends like Heval (Comrade) Ronahî Yekta, because we lived, laughed, discussed and dreamed together. Her Kurdish name, Ronahî, means light, brightness, or radiance. To tell the story of Heval Ronahî also means to carry her glow, her radiance, beyond the boundaries of space and time.
It is as if the universe is yearning for her liveliness, her presence and her energy. It is due to the precious culture of remembrance that we owe to the Kurdish Freedom Movement, that the legacy of a person like her is not lost. To walk the same path, to share goals, to be side by side in the freedom struggle means to take responsibility for each other, that goes beyond the pure boundaries of physical existence. Whenever a friend, a comrade-in-arms, a companion is ripped out of our rows, it’s our responsibility to carry on everything she created, to make her dreams and goals our own. This is how we do not allow our struggle to be weakened, even when the attacks are great. We do not allow the legacy and spirit of our friends to be lost or destroyed. That is why the more the state forces in all corners of the world try to eliminate the successes of the revolution in Kurdistan, the more they are faced with an international freedom movement.
The resistance of a society in Tishrin – No Pasarán!
In winter 2024/25, the Turkish state tried to break the resistance of the peoples of North and East Syria through drones and warplanes. The society, old and young, people of all cultures and peoples jointly defended the dam against an invasion by the Turkish state (which used Islamist militias to invade). An internationalist among the society at Tishrin heard the sounds of modern warfare that were flying above them for the first time. Around her were dead and wounded due to the attacks, but the people were stern in their decision to put a stop to the invaders. The society stood strong: NO PASARÁN! When the people from cities and villages of North and East Syria joined the car convoys to the dam, each of them knew that they might not return healthy or even alive. But they were also aware of the plans of the invaders. 15 years of experience in defending their region expressed itself in a clear stance. It was clear to them: if they, the people of North and East Syria, would not defend the Tishrin dam, the invaders would not just take the dam, but also the city of Kobane. And through this the door for a ground invasion would have been opened in the first months of 2025. While the whole world watched Damascus, these historical weeks and months took place in the north of the country.
The internationalist who stood on top of the dam among many other people, looked around her and thought to herself: “How can the enemy of these people think that they stand a chance to defeat them?”
Determination and clarity
It is this determination and absolute clarity that is hard to share with words. It needs to be felt. Visitors to North and East Syria hear about it, in families, in the institutions of the autonomous self-administration, in random encounters. Very few people who are not from the region witness and understand how decisive and meaningful this determination is. It is palpable in the shared experience of concrete and effective social resistance against the occupying powers.
It is this strength, clarity, and determination that spark in the eyes of many people in Kurdistan. This clear decisiveness and strength of will also shone in the eyes of our friend Ronahî Yekta. She took part in the defense of the region along the banks of the Euphrates river. As a commander in the women’s self-defense forces (YPJ), she was responsible for one section of the front against the attacks of the occupier. In the successful prevention of an occupation in the winter of 2024/25, two actors played a decisive role: on the one hand, the military forces SDF and YPJ, made up of local fighters as well as volunteers from across the Middle East; on the other hand, their loved ones—families and friends—the population of North and East Syria. Ignored by the world’s attention, the people of the region defended the city of Kobane yet another time from the invasion of Islamist militias, which were trained and coordinated by Turkey. Turkey carried out massacres against the civilian population from the air. Dozens of people lost their lives in this confrontation, hundreds were wounded. To this day, those attacks on civilians have received no international attention. The fighting in the region continued for weeks. Yet both actors—the military self-defense forces and the society of the region—stood their ground and did not allow enemy forces to cross the Euphrates. Thanks to this resistance, the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which today offers a model for a democratic Syria and a concrete alternative to the ethnically and religiously motivated violence and arbitrary rule in Damascus, was able to continue to exist.
The successful defense of the autonomous administration
Heval Ronahî Yekta was one of the commanders of this resistance. She was murdered by Islamist militias on the 25th of December 2024 on the riverbanks of the Euphrates – 17 days after the old regime fell in Damascus. A few days earlier, she spoke with Kurdish war correspondents on the ground. Having previously worked as a journalist herself, she knew how important it is to capture as many concrete images and firsthand reports as possible. For this interview, she therefore left the protection of the tunnel systems and gave an interview in front of a tank belonging to the invaders that had been brought to a standstill. Tangible reporting like this involves enormous risks, as Turkey continuously monitors the region with drones and identifies targets for attack.
Heval Ronahî Yekta says in this interview: “For almost seven days we have been at war. Both overground and underground, we employed modern tactics of resistance. It was enormous resistance that was put up here. Even though we were completely surprised by these attacks on this front, we were able to face them successfully as SDF and YPJ. This was a big victory. This attack came from all sides simultaneously. Now, we repelled the enemy forces from the dam. But in the surrounding regions we are holding our positions, we are resisting, it is war. We have learned a lot in these hard times.”
It would take another two months of determined resistance of the military self-defense forces and the peoples of the region to ensure that a daily fight for survival would not be necessary anymore. The deadly confrontations around the Tishrin dam took place without international attention. While global news outlets indulged in a brief frenzy of celebration in Damascus, Turkey and its Islamist allies waged a war of aggression on North and East Syria, carrying out massacres against the civilian population. Until today, those massacres have been mostly ignored. The brave society of North and East Syria has yet another time written history and defended their region. A less determined stance at that moment would have triggered another massive wave of displacement, which would have clearly sealed Syria’s fate under the new Islamist rulers. At the Tishrin dam, the future of a Syria inclusive of all cultures and religions was defended. Heval Ronahî, together with many other young people from the region, made history there and defended life itself.
We will continue her path and tell her story. To talk about the resistance of Tishrin means to create a collective awareness that it is possible to build up successful self-defense structures. Determined personalities like Heval Ronahî Yekta and an organized society, like in North and East Syria, created an example that carries international importance.
The following materials on the topic recommended:
Documentary filmed by a European journalist during Tishrin dam popular resistance: “Berxwedan Jiyane – The resistance of Tishrin” (Youtube: @Berxwedan_Jiyane_film (available in 9 languages; it’s possible to organize film screenings)
Rojava Information Center Reports and In-Depth Dossiers
(rojavainformationcenter.org; available in different languages)
- After Assad – Turkey and SNA crimes against civilians in NES
- From Idlib to Damascus: HTS’ evolution into the Syrian caretaker government
- The Syrian National Army: the Turkish proxy militias of northern Syria
- Targeting of journalists and obstruction of information-gathering by Turkey and the SNA in northern Syria
Kongra Star Reports
(kongrastar.org; available in different languages)
- Drone War against the women’s revolution
- Political femicide: systematized state assassinations of politically organised women
YPJ Information & Documentation Office Reports
- Turkish war crimes in North-East Syria: bombing civilian demonstrations at Tishrin Dam
- Brochure: Turkish state attacks on women who defeated ISIS
- Brochure: Turkey’s war against women fighting ISIS
- Turkey’s war on women
Internationalist Commune of Rojava (internationalistcommune.com)
“On the lands of Afrin” – A song dedicated to the comrades Ronahî Yekta and Hêlîn Qereçox (Anna Campbell) written and published by the Internationalist Commune of Rojava.