Salih Muslim’s longtime companion, Ismet Sheikh Hesen, sat down with ANF for a long conversation. As the steam from the tea drifted through the room like a thin mist, the story of a man of struggle, a politician and a diplomat slowly unfolded before us. Time and again the conversation returned to the 1980s, to the narrow streets of Kobanê and the difficult days of Rojava.
Ismet Sheikh Hesen, who once walked shoulder to shoulder with Bavê Welat (Salih Muslim), shared his memories of the man with whom he carried the burden of the same cause. He spoke about Bavê Welat’s personality, life journey, politics, modesty and the way he led among the people, recounting the memories he had gathered over the years, Bavê Welat’s martyrdom and the path of half a century.
Sheikh Hesen is someone who embraced the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan and placed them at the center of his life. For many years he was one of Bavê Welat’s closest comrades in struggle. They engaged in politics together, paid a heavy price and faced hardships side by side. Over time, the memories accumulated in Sheikh Hesen’s mind made Bavê Welat’s life, stance and contribution to the cause visible once again.
In every sentence there was a memory, and in every memory there was a trace. As a comrade who continues to uphold Bavê Welat’s cause and legacy, Ismet Sheikh Hesen revived his story not only as the story of one person, but as the story of a people, a cause and a long journey. He shared the following recollection: “It was the early 1980s. I first saw Bavê Welat in those days when every step in the dusty streets of Kobanê carried a story. He had a quiet but profound presence, a dignity that settled deep within a person. Even then it was clear that he was not someone destined for an ordinary life, but for a long journey.
He had been born in 1951 in a village of Sherawa. At a young age he went to Turkey to study chemistry. Later his path led him to Saudi Arabia, where he worked as an employee at an oil company in Riyadh. He had seen the world and passed through different cultures, yet wherever he went, a part of his mind always remained with his homeland and with his Kurdish identity.
When he returned to Kobanê, the city quickly recognized him. In a place where tribal culture was strong, everyone knew who everyone was. Yet Bavê Welat’s presence went beyond those boundaries. His patriotism, intellectual clarity and cultural depth made him someone whose door anyone could knock on and whose words anyone could listen to. In Kobanê he was a rare character: both wise and humble, courageous yet calm.”
Bavê Welat led his people
Ismet Sheikh Hesen said: “Patriotism was not a slogan for Bavê Welat, but a way of life. Bavê Welat always placed the human being first and valued human dignity and the ability to exist with honor. Bavê Welat knew how to love his country and never renounced his Kurdish identity. Bavê Welat paid the price of that devotion together with his family. Over time, however, that price turned into a light that spread from his family to the people of Kobanê, to the tribes, to Rojava and gradually to broad segments of Syrian society.
Bavê Welat’s life was like a marathon. Bavê Welat moved forward step by step like a runner who never tires and whose breath never runs out. After the 1980s, when the freedom movement launched by Abdullah Öcalan began to take root in Syria, we also became travelers on that path together with Bavê Welat. We tried to understand, embrace and keep alive Öcalan’s ideas.
Today, when I look back, Bavê Welat’s struggle appears not only as the story of one person, but as the story of a people, a geography and a belief. The path Bavê Welat walked still leaves a trace behind us.”
Bavê Welat’s family was a center of resistance
Ismet Sheikh Hesen also said: “For years, Bavê Welat also brought his family into this struggle. His wife, Ayşe Efendi, and their children… all of them became people devoted to the cause. Bavê Welat showed patriotism not only through words but through life itself. Sherwan’s martyrdom in the People’s Defense Units (YPG) and Azad’s joining the guerrilla ranks… this family became one of the pioneers of patriotism in Kobanê and across Syria. They were not simply a family; they were almost a center of resistance.
Bavê Welat also played a leading role during the period of the Baath regime. The Baath regime always imposed harsh repression. Bavê Welat had already taken a clear stance in earlier years. In the 2000s, Bavê Welat was arrested by the Baath regime in Syria and spent time in prison. His wife, Ayşe Efendi, likewise remained in the regime’s prisons for a year.
Bavê Welat used to say: ‘If we had an identity, if we had our own country, no one would have been able to arrest us.’
For this reason, Bavê Welat never abandoned the struggle. While the regime’s repression continued, Bavê Welat also organized the people. During the years of the Syrian regime, Bavê Welat brought tens of thousands of people into the struggle. In Kobanê, Bavê Welat would gather students, engineers, intellectuals, teachers and doctors, bringing them together in meetings. Bavê Welat explained that Kurds are a society, a people and a nation. For years Bavê Welat worked tirelessly, organized meetings and devoted immense effort to this cause.”
We are fortunate to have a leader
Ismet Sheikh Hesen added: “The memory of Bavê Welat that remains most vivid in my mind begins with a sentence he spoke one evening under the fading lights of Kobanê. The steam from the tea glasses was still hanging in the air; outside, the wind gently knocked against the door, while inside his voice carried its usual calm yet deep strength.
‘We are very fortunate people,’ Bavê Welat said, fixing his eyes on a distant point. Then he added in a composed tone: ‘You know how in religions and cultures there is always a leader… A revolutionary emerges and illuminates the path of a people. That person becomes the driving force of a nation. For us, that leader is Abdullah Öcalan.’
There was neither exaggeration nor display on his face as he spoke those words. It was as if he was expressing a truth filtered through many years.
After 2011, when the situation in Syria began to change, Bavê Welat became more active in Rojava. When necessary, Bavê Welat served as co-chair of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and at other times took a leading role in the struggle of the Kurds and the peoples of Syria. After the 1990s, many of Bavê Welat’s comrades also believed in this cause and in earlier periods reached martyrdom: Şilan Kobanê, Osman Dadali, İsa Hiso and hundreds of others.
Bavê Welat became known among Kurds and carried out diplomatic work in Europe. Bavê Welat thought about the future of Syria and the rights of the Kurds. Bavê Welat made great efforts to achieve Kurdish unity and became one of the key figures working toward that goal.
Throughout his life, Bavê Welat never did anything for personal gain. Bavê Welat defended equality and protected the historical struggle and values of the Kurds. For years, Bavê Welat sat and translated legal defenses. Bavê Welat translated Abdullah Öcalan’s prison defenses into Arabic. Bavê Welat used to say, ‘Let us translate the defenses so that our people can read them.’ With his pen, intellectual character and awareness, Bavê Welat rendered great service to his people and to the younger generation.
Why did Bavê Welat not answer Rudaw’s question? During the Kurdish Unity Conference held in Qamishlo in April 2025, a Rudaw reporter extended a microphone to Bavê Welat, but Bavê Welat did not respond. Later Bavê Welat explained the reason to me: ‘Every day in Syria our people are resisting; while our fighters, our daughters and our children are standing on the front lines, we cannot say “they died” or “they were killed.” That is why I did not answer,’ Bavê Welat said.
Bavê Welat later added that he had appeared on Rudaw and participated in a program. Bavê Welat’s reaction was not directed at individuals, but at the language used by the Kurdish media.”
When the news of Bavê Welat’s martyrdom arrived
Ismet Sheikh Hesen said: “I have received a lot of news of martyrdom throughout my life. In Rojava and in Syria, I went through the war, the resistance and the losses; in those heavy silences I heard the names of many friends and many comrades. But no news affected me as deeply as the news of Bavê Welat’s martyrdom. That day had begun like any other. The streets carried the exhaustion of war, but I was used to that atmosphere. Suddenly a little girl ran toward me. She was out of breath; there was both fear and urgency in her eyes.
With her tiny voice, yet with a tone that seemed to carry the weight of the whole world, she said: ‘Bavê Welat… has fallen as a martyr.’
At that moment, time stopped. The sounds around me fell silent. Something inside me broke. I drank a glass of water; even as it passed down my throat it hurt. I tried to collect myself, but the emptiness inside me kept growing.
My friends looked at my face and asked:
‘Are you ill? What happened?’
My words were tied in my throat:
‘The news of Bavê Welat’s martyrdom has arrived…’
Even as I spoke that sentence, it felt as if a mountain collapsed silently within me. That news struck me deeply and left a wound inside me that still has not healed.”
The struggle continues
Ismet Sheikh Hesen concluded his remarks as follows: “I said to myself, ‘The only thing I can do now is to carry on his cause in the most worthy way.’ Because Bavê Welat was not only a person; Bavê Welat was a man of cause known across the four parts of Kurdistan, someone who devoted years to politics, to struggle and to the people. Bavê Welat was a comrade who never hesitated to pay the price and who faced every hardship. Bavê Welat was a friend, a shoulder to lean on.
Bavê Welat’s place in society, Bavê Welat’s words and Bavê Welat’s stance were entirely unique. In difficult times we stayed together; we shared the same table and passed through the same dangers. We worked together and resisted together. No matter what one says about Bavê Welat, it will always remain incomplete.
Bavê Welat’s martyrdom is not only the loss of one person; it is the loss of an era, of a consciousness and of a stance. But at the same time, Bavê Welat left us a cause, a testament and a history of struggle.
Since that day, I still hear that calm, dignified yet determined voice saying: ‘The struggle continues.’”
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