The path is the beloved that the traveler falls in love with. The path is life itself, something lived with a profound devotion. Along the trails they walk, the guerrilla lives through stories, gathering those that were lived before from the slopes of the mountains. They share companionship with the heroes of those stories along the paths. And every traveler who reaches their destination becomes a story. All that is needed is a narrator.
The journey of becoming a narrator for Ekin Wan from Turkey began in Ankara. It is a path that stretches from Ankara to Wan, and from Wan to the mountains, reaching as far as the Çiyaye Reş area of Zap. Ekin Wan set out on a freezing night in Ankara and ran toward the mountains. Despite not belonging to that people, Ekin believed in the unity of peoples and followed the path of light. Saying, “So that flowers may bloom in color, so that the soil may be nourished by water instead of bombardments, so that mountains may reunite, so that trees may live their four colors freely, so that a people may finally smile, so that children may only bruise their knees while playing, so that people may die by their own fate and not at the hands of others, it is time to go to the mountains,” Ekin gathered all that was carried in the heart and set out.
After a long journey, Ekin reached the paths once walked by Halil, Gurbetelli, Arjin and Şilan. Ekin met the guerrilla, whose words were woven into sentences, whose stories were told with care and time. Every guerrilla encountered was carried into history. Ekin had said, “Do not call me a Turk, I am from Turkey. All other peoples are also from Turkey, but they are not Turks. I came to these mountains to struggle for this.” This was an understanding that gave deep meaning to the journey to the mountains, one that embraced all peoples as one. For this reason, Ekin Wan wandered the mountains of Kurdistan with love. Every story of each guerrilla encountered was written down, and while writing, the same emotions were lived.
Ekin revealed to us the beauty of the mountains, not from the edges but by standing at their very heart, seeing and recording every detail of life. Ekin was not content only with what the eyes could see or what the ears could hear. Ekin kept watch over the breaking of the boundaries drawn around the heart and sought to reach the warmest spaces of the guerrilla land that was dreamed of.
As a woman revolutionary, Ekin represented an internationalist line, continuing the journey of a cause for which figures such as Mahir and Ibrahim gave their lives. Ekin devoted life to the pursuit of a cause that believed in the unity of the peoples of Turkey and Kurdistan. In the mountains of a free Kurdistan, Ekin was at times a writer, at times a storyteller, at times a guerrilla, and at times a militant striving to establish a free women’s line in media.
Ekin regarded it as a duty to follow the path of the fallen Ekin Wan, whose name was taken. The calm and deeply perceptive gaze, the shining eyes illuminated by a passion for learning, and the demeanor of someone seasoned by life influenced comrades far beyond what could be imagined. Ekin never accepted remaining on the margins of the struggle, but instead sought to confront the waves in the middle of the sea and lived with the courage befitting a revolutionary.
Walking in pursuit of truth, Ekin was a true revolutionary. Ekin neither liked to wait nor to stand still. Like water that must always flow and surge, Ekin wanted to surrender to the beauty of the mountains. The more was discovered, the more was explored; the more steps were taken, the further the journey went. For Ekin, struggle was a step toward becoming a guerrilla. For Ekin, hardship and giving meaning to it were the very essence of becoming of the mountains.
Ekin neither chose to stand still nor to wait. It was not enough to be merely the carrier of the stories that were written; Ekin wanted to become one of the guerrillas who were the subject of those stories.
Ekin did not wish to be the voice of one of the heroic guerrillas heard about, but dreamed that voice would become their own. Ekin dreamed of the mountains, of the imagined guerrilla, of freedom, and set out on that path. With a commitment to struggle in the most difficult conditions, a deep love for the guerrilla, emotional richness and an ability to act swiftly, Ekin created morale wherever they were. Calmness and maturity brought a sense of peace. Like a snowdrop with a childlike grace, their walk inspired hope. With a big heart, Ekin fostered belief.
Ekin showed how beautiful and challenging the guerrilla way of life is. Ekin became a rebel against the ideologies, understandings and approaches imposed by the oppressors, a force of resistance. Ekin became one who broke the chains placed on the mind and heart, transcended boundaries and, in doing so, became more complete. Ekin brought themselves together with the simple and natural forms of freedom.
Ekin united the land of Turkey where they were born with the Kurdish freedom struggle. With each step of this unity, it gained beauty and meaning. Preparing themselves according to all areas of the struggle for freedom and the conditions and needs of the revolution, Ekin became a revolutionary.
On a May morning in Zap, together with comrades, Ekin confronted the mindset that seeks to impose fascism on humanity. All the anger that had been gathered was carried into the battlefield. Four years ago, bombs fell on the soil of Zap; birds fell silent, ants rushed back to their nests. The heart of the universe beat in Zap. In its search for meaning, the universe advanced another step, because resistance came to life from the ground to the sky in Zap.
In this search for meaning, in the beauty of May’s resistance and uprising, Ekin Wan from Turkey became one with Zap.
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