"(PICTURE)" "Four years ago, I took the name Akif." "In 1980, when the Kurdish people rebelled for the 29th time, I was 7 years old." "That time, the rebellion wasn't only local." "It was war." "The PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) committed to freeing Turkish Kurdistan." "25 years already." "More than 35,000 dead." "Thousands of villages destroyed by the Turkish army." "More than 3 million persons left homeless." "My family and I eventually joined our father in Germany." "All these years, I had only one dream... ro become a freedom fighter." "In 1999, I went to the mountains to help liberate my country." "Apo, our president, had just been imprisoned." "He had ordered the cease-fire and withdrawal of our troops to the mountains of northern Iraq, in the Qandil massif." "We women all love the campfire." "I like to poke around with the burning embers." "I can't stop." "I couldn't stop, not even for two sacks of wheat." "Can you resist playing with fire?" "For me, fire and the mountains represent the same thing:" "Freedom." "Something difficult to attain." "Only in the mountains have I come to understand what freedom is." "Upon arrival, our commander said:" ""Welcome to our little free Kurdistan."" "I cried and kissed the ground." "For the first time, I felt free in my homeland." "I wrote with lots of sentiment in the first pages of my notes." "Now I am ready for a new journey." "With other comrades our group will travel to the Kani Cenge camp." "A camp located a few kilometers from the Turkish border." "Our Special Forces are preparing there to infiltrate northern Kurdistan, the area we're fighting for." "is fire allowed at night?" " It's illegal?" " But we can." " Normally, it's illegal?" " Yes." "What do they call you?" "Akif the Englishman." "What's "heval" in English?" " It's "Genosse" in German." " Comrade." "Great moon tonight!" "(PICTURE)" " Nice for walking under." " But it will soon disappear." "Not before midnight, it's a half-moon." "The group consists of two women, Ozgur and Slav, and two men, Siyar and Aram." "luckily, our commander Siyar doesn't abuse his role." "Slav comes from Europe." "like me, she grew up in Germany." "I'm happy she's here." "We argue constantly about our conceptions of freedom." "ljoined the group under particular circumstances." "A European, a friend of a friend, just arrived at Qandil to make a film about us." "I've been assigned as his guide and interpreter." "Who knows what awaits." "He asks if we, the Kurds from Europe, are treated differently here." "Have our other comrades tried to protect us in any special way?" "Or do they treat us the same?" "For me, no difference." "I never really felt German." "I came here to Kurdistan to rediscover my Kurdish roots." "I was 13 when I joined the Party." "I was just a kid." "(PICTURE)" "But it was right for me in regards to my life." "Everything pointed to my joining the Party." "It's great living in nature." "Plus, I'm living out an ideology." "That's what I must work for." "Do you believe in freedom?" "Yes." "Me, too." "But not now." "Even here, freedom is limited." "This is a military organization, we can't be totally free and in peace." "But we'll do everything for freedom and peace." "I think things will soon become more difficult." "They might require us to put down our arms." "But we have found trust in the power of arms." "The world is so beautiful." "The most beautiful are places where hope exists." "There's hope here." "Not only for Kurds, for the whole world." "If the PKK's 5,OOO militants refuse to become Iraqis, they'll have to leave the zone and the country." "Turkey has been asked to guarantee them amnesty in exchange for laying down their arms and surrendering." "The Americans have asked Turkey to establish the "Repentance law"." "Security issues have Turkey worried." "The US will oppose all activities of the PKK-KADEK which it considers to be a terrorist group." "For the PKK the only alterna!" "tive is to lay down its arms and surrender." "They're trying to scare us." "Does prison frighten you?" "My fear is of being silenced, of not being strong enough to resist." "I fear showing weakness, being incapable of defending our cause." "I'm afraid of being politically dead." "We have overcome fear of physical death." "We're used to it." "Against the police, I'm only scared of not being able to resist." "When I see those instruments of electrical torture, I'm not afraid." "I just wonder if I'll be capable of holding on." "Once in prison, we were attacked." "Everyone was wounded but we still joked around." "We'd say:" ""Did you see her?" or even: "Did you see the guards?"" "Once, I grabbed a guard by his tie." "He was gasping for his life, so he bit my hand." "I was lying down, I grabbed his tie and I pulled him toward me." "He was afraid I'd strangle him." "He bit me." "I was told he almost bit off my hand." "I passed out." "I thought I had died and become a martyr." "I didn't want to die without shouting our slogan." "I shouted: "Long live President Apo!" A friend told me I was alive." ""You're not a martyr yet."" "A happy moment." "One time during a Turkish army raid... I hid under a boulder." "My feet stuck out through a crevice." "The boulder was big, but the crevice was tiny." "I was able to hide my body, but not my feet." "Soldiers scoured the sector in search of us." "They examined every stone, every tree." "A soldier climbed the boulder I was hiding under." "He must have seen my shoes." "I looked up." "I heard his voice close by." "I raised my head to see him." "Our eyes met." "He had green eyes." "He was blond." "There we were, eye to eye." "We kept looking at one another for a good minute." "He didn't reach for his weapon." "Neither did I." "He shouted to his leader:" ""There's no one here!"" "Then he left." "I look at Turkish soldiers differently now." "You should wash your scarf." "Really?" "You're not a cook anymore." "You're an interpreter." "Aren't you running late for the border?" "Akif, we say this because we're your friends." "You should shower, too." "We can say all this, we're your friends." "You all have strange ways of being diplomatic." "No English diplomacy here!" "Comrade Siyar decided to schedule our departure for tomorrow." "We're waiting on authorizations for Ozgur and Slav." "Before our friend arrived I had kitchen duty." "I got all the dirty work." "My nails were black." "They still are." " My critics call me..." " Akif the Englishman." "Let them rot!" "But everyone here likes you." "May 6" "We're leaving after another all-nighter." "At 3 AM, an alert drove us into the caves." "Once again, the planes were not meant for us..." "Just more American planes heading toward Baghdad." "Our Kurdish comrades in Iraq finally got their freedom." "But for us, referred to as "PKK terrorists", the end of Saddam's regime has increased threat of US attacks." "Yet, we're not demanding independence or autonomy." "Only that the 25 million Kurds of Turkey be recognized by the Turkish constitution." " And your training?" " Mostly political." "Not much with weapons." "Why all the talking?" "It's time to go." "We're old friends." "She's from Mahmur." " Where did you meet?" " In the mountains." "She was the youngest of the group." "She's all grown up." "Where are you from?" "Gabar, Cizre and then the refugee camp of Mahm' ur." "I was even their teacher for a while." "We used to put sugar in our comrades' wash water to attract flies." "As a joke?" "I was responsible for 18 persons." "All very young." " Stay." "The tea's ready." " No, thanks." "Where are you going?" "It's late." "We should go." "Aram doesn't like us wasting time." "May 7" "We're finally heading north." "For Ozgur and Slav, the northern camp is only a stopover toward the fighting center." "Their goal is to join Special Forces." "But for Aram and Siyar, this voyage to the northern camp represents much more." "The war zones in Turkey will be in their reach at a moment's notice." "It pains me to write my journal in Turkish and not in Kurdish." "But that's our reality as soon as we start school." "The teacher told us that Kurdish our language, wasn't a real one..." "That we should stop speaking it and learn Turkish the true language of our country." "The teacher had a method to stop us from speaking our language, even at home." "He forced us to spy on our neighbors and catch students who spoke Kurdish." "Then he made the best friend of the guilty person strike his fingertips with a ruler." "Denying our identity wasn't enough." "They wanted to shatter the solidarity between us." "Hear the cuckoo?" "Yes." "We say it chirps:" ""Who killed?" "I did."" "One day, a brother and sister went to fetch thistles." "The girl gave her brother a bag." "It had a hole in it." "They picked and picked, but everything fell out." "Eventually, they stopped to see what they had collected." "The bag was empty." "The girl accused her brother of eating them all." "The boy denied it." "She cut open his stomach." "It was empty." "She hits herself and asks "What have I done?"" "She repeats ever since:" ""Who killed him?" "I did."" ""God, turn me into a bird," she wished." "And she became a cuckoo." "We have the same in Dersim." "So do we." "The same birds and the same legend." "I'm not in contact anymore with those I trained with." "But our group will stay together." " Hello." " Welcome." "Welcome." "Our tripjust started and we must stop already." "Women's Coordination is making Ozgur and Slav wait for another travel authorization." "We, the freedom fighters..." "Are we really free?" "We're not even free to fight." "Slav might be right." "We're not living in freedom." "We're sacrificing our own freedom for that of our people." "We've accepted a controlled life 24 hours a day." "Here, the simple gesture of a declaration of love is considered treason." "Yet, in some strange way, I only feel free in these mountains." "Probably because freedom means nothing if we aren't free to belong to a community, belong to a people." " Watch our backs." " Ask the women first." " They agree." " OK, if it's a group decision." "Ozgur agrees, too." "We'll stop at Sehit Harun." "This long, narrow valley where women rule is probably the very heart of the ideology and social model of the PKK." "Normally, men are not admitted." "Except those who accept to have their masculinity "reeducated"." "They call it "killing maleness"." "This forced stop is a good occasion to learn more." "Some new fighters have arrived." "They'll take the oath now." "I will fight without doubt against the spirit of slavery." "Against domination, oppression, cruelty of the patriarchal system." "I will join the ideological revolution, thanks to the strength of my ethics and morals." "I will rediscover the purity of the Stone Age in the hope of obtaining freedom." "I will respond with honesty, goodness, discipline, conviction determination and with courage." "Such is the nature of my oath to President Apo, to KADEK to PJA to the Resistance in the mountains and in prisons," "to our heroic martyrs, to our people and to humanity." "I swear." "I swear." "The PJA (Party of Free Women) proposes a study curriculum including Mass Work Issues." "History and Women's Sociology are also on the program." "Women's Studies is also emphasized." "Classes are held between 7:30 and 10:30." "Then free time to tend to personal needs..." "Maybe a little reviewing, then classes begin again." "Some sports, some dinner, then the news." "Some evenings, seminars are held." "We want to change man in the way prehistoric woman changed man." "She created equality between man and woman." "A harmonious existence with the earth." "For the Party of Free Women, this is the model." "Thanks to our school we recreate that here on Mesopotamian land'." "Our president responded in a concise and sincere way to this question:"Would you entrust the presidency to a woman?"" "He answered sincerely:" ""l am ready to do it." ""Believe me." ""Kurdish society might not be ready yet," ""but I'll create my goddess."" "The mountains keep me here." "You've already stressed that." "We feel the same!" "And our country?" "It's also outside the mountains." "You're missing the point." "Comrade Sakine is an old friend." "Since when?" "1979... 1978?" "We've been friends since 1977." "In 1992, we fought together in the South." "A very difficult period." "Not like today." "In 1992, 1995..." "We were together in all those clashes." "When I was in prison, she took my name as a nickname." "Comrades she even stole my!" "name!" "Finally, in Bestler... ln 1994, we met again." "In the mountains." "I had been there since 1991 but we never met up." "Then I saw her." "I grabbed her head, I shook her!" "Almost wrestling!" "In the cities the enemy separated us..." "The mountains reunited us." "The mountain girl and the prisoner." "Show some respect!" "I tease her a lot." "We spent 12 years in prison." "May 16" "We're still awaiting a green light." "Our principal activity seems to consist of waiting..." "Waiting for orders, for developments, for approaching enemies." "Waiting to go and fight." "And waiting for the moment to accomplish our final mission:" "die as a martyr for our cause." "A letter from President Apo?" "Yes." ""We must cultivate a theory about love and passion." ""The heart needs training." ""Our young women must know themselves." ""Be conscious of their identity." ""Say clearly what type of man they want." ""It's their duty and their right." ""The theory of love is a theory of war" ""because in reality, man can be dangerous." ""He doesn't see you as an equal." ""Organize yourselves against men, even against me." ""l am no model of equality between the sexes." ""What can I do?" "I'm too old to change." ""That's your president's reality." ""Man is a donkey in heat, a relic of the feudal lords." ""For him, hurting and beating his wife is his right." ""By dominating society, Man has cut Woman's tongue." ""Man is crude, very crude." ""Even the best one's mouth stinks." ""He only has instincts." ""How will you handle this crude man?"" "What is the ideology of the liberation of women?" "First of all, this ideology is not military, political or economic." "It's important to understand that it's a social ideology." "When Man lived in wild clans their socialization began through Woman's efforts." "They became a social body." "This process found its opening in Neolithic Age society, a turning point for humanity." "Production was communal everything was shared." "This was a society based on equality and freedom." "Unfortunately, Man turned this into a society of classes." "He locked up women in temples and homes." "He deprived their femininity." "Having made Woman his slave," "Man became the dominant one seeing himself as master." "The system lost its values." "Man took complete possession of all of society." "How alienated do you feel?" "What is your attitude toward being "purified"?" "What are you doing to change?" "We started 5 months ago." "The questionnaires, studies on civilization..." "Little by little," "we see what needs purifying." "Firstly, purify us of ourselves." "I have a question..." "Most people have difficulty understanding us." "We're not concrete enough." "How would you explain us to others?" "How would you explain our ideology to outsiders?" "What's your answer, comrade?" "Good question!" "During the Neolithic Age, God was a woman." "Today, things are different." "I measure male cruelty by my mother and sisters." "My mother's life was very difficult because of my father." "He was a real dictator." "He was violent with my mother." "This had an effect on me ever since childhood." "I asked myself questions about the meaning of life, about its contradictions, its tests." "Growing up... I thought my parents were one case." "I thought my sisters would lead different lives." "But my oldest sister's life is like our mother's." "So I turned to religion." "I was looking for true purity in Islam." "I wanted to live free not be condemned to ma!" "rry." "I thought Islam would allow me a simple life, a life dedicated to God with a freedom of spirit," "where my spiritual virginity would be protected." "But little by little, I saw Islam as a reflection of society's rules." "Exactly the same rules." "In Islam, a woman is forced to live with a man." "Not to mention all the other obligations." "When I heard President Apo say that a woman could live in the mountains without being forced to marry," "that she could fight for freedom of women and of the nation I knew that I had found what I was looking for." "The comrades of the PJA are making a garden in memory of martyr Gulan." "She was one of the most brilliant and powerful women of the PKK." "Maybe too powerful." "So she was killed by a man." "Who killed her and why?" "We are not supposed to know." "In her name we're creating a new' symbol." "Scraping the thick surface of our mountains, stone by stone, unrelentingly." "It's our way of being happy and ofsharing our hopes." "My dear mother, Don't abandon me" "My sorrow is immense Don't abandon me" "I await your promises to come true I'll wait, my dear mother" "Mother, I've become pretty" "Don't cry I'm all grown up now..." "Hello." "Which group are you looking for?" " Military or political?" " Military." "They're over there." "Finally, we're moving again." "In 2 weeks, we'll reach the border camp." "The group for Diyarbakir has already left." "The groups for Dersim and Erzurum are awaiting departure orders from Central Coordination." "In other times, we wasted days in those shabby shelters." " My father was there too." " What did he do?" "He was a freedom fighter." "For many years." "Where is he?" "Comrade, your mother would say:" ""Is my son doing that?" ""Isn't that girls' work?"" "My mother is dead." "My grandmother raised me." "So, we're the "Orphan Group"." "There's a constellation that is referred to like that." "The Orphan constellation." "Tiny little stars." "They draw out the map of Kurdistan in the sky." "That's our new nickname?" "Along with Aram, we're now the Orphan Group." "We fear the Americans will attack." "The Party refuses war." "Yet, you want to go into the Special Forces." "To attack is possibly the only way to survive." "That's how it is." "Once, we were surrounded." "No way to escape." "The enemy had us cornered against rocky cliffs." "We were trapped between the enemy and the cliff." "We wondered until nightfall what the outcome would be." "Would we survive or be annihilated?" "A very painful moment." "Finally, we decided to attack first." "And we discovered we were the stronger ones." "Suddenly, it was the enemy who was afraid of us." "As soon as our attitude changed, the situation took a turn." "It wasn't the first time." "Not only because of the Americans..." "Bearing in mind the situation, peace is possible." "We have no desire to face confrontation." "Since we've been here we've been able to control ou'r fear." "We are not afraid." "We are not afraid of the Americans." "As militants and freedom fighters, we are prepared for combat." "If the war starts up again," "(PICTURE) I will be ready to fight." "We'll be fine." "We have experience." "We have faced situations like this before." "We are not inexperienced." "I won't go into details." "In order to survive we have some basic rules." "As long as you are,able to follow them your life is in less danger." "Even if survival is not priority." "In times of war one of the rules i!" "s:" ""Kill or be killed."" "It's our motto." "Rules must be followed in times of war." "Slavjust told me that Ozgur's father, a fighter himself, was killed a few months ago." "Everyone knows except Ozgur." "The Party hasn't officially declared him a martyr." "The details of his death are still unclear." "No one can find the words to tell her." "It's springtime." "Crossing the mountains is a real pleasure." "But today my thoughts are dark." "President Apo's latest letter from prison just arrived." "His words are hard to swallow." "He announces PKK opposition to a Kurdish state in Iraq." "Four years ago, I had already witnessed the civil war against our Kurdish brothers in northern Iraq." "Once again, brother against brother." "And again, our president declares his loyalty to the Turkish Republic." "An independent Kurdistan is no longer on our agenda." "Since our leader was imprisoned, all of his words are controlled by the enemy." "Since he renounced our war and declared the ceasefire, many things have changed." "Careful, Ozgur, you'll poke our eyes out!" "Ozgur has never thought about her future life in normal society." "Like all of us, in fact." "How is it possible?" " We don't have time." " These are times of war." "And the ideal society we're fighting for?" "And the ideal citizen we want to create?" "I know all that." " l'm not accusing you." " So why all these questions?" "I can explain my concept of the ideal society, how I see myself, Akif, in my society..." "More free, more fair, unoppressed." "A universe where man is in harmony with his culture his language, his differences." "That's what I dream about." "At 12 years old, I was already a freedom fighter." "In the youth camp?" "And I went straight to war." " And you fought?" " Yes." " Really?" " l was 14 years old." "Don't translate that." "Your father was already in the mountains?" "I dreamed about the President..." " Want to hear?" " Yes." "He was very sick." "His eyes were green." "One week later his condition worsened." "I wanted to see him." "But there was a door." "Impossible to get through." "At his side two men were crying." "He was furious and he looked at me." "He said nothing." "He just looked at me." "That's the last dream I had." "I had a dream today." " When?" " This afternoon." "Surely because of the discussion with my comrades." "I was at the President's home." "There were a lot of old people." "My father was also there." "I had never dreamed of him." "There was a very long corridor." "And a large hall." "As soon as I advanced fire spread everywhere'." "The walls were in flames." "It was magnificent." "But it gave me a bad feeling at the same time." "Shortly after, there was an air raid." "Bombings and so forth..." "I often dream about bombings." "With my father, we guided everyone to safety." "I knew I might die, but I followed my father." "is there anything you're afraid of losing?" "Maybe something that belongs to you?" "Slav?" "Nothing except for my freedom." "Comrade Siyar?" "Our memories." "Personally, I think we have nothing to lose." "Like my comrades said, if anything matters to us, it's our freedom and the trust of our people." " You fell?" " Yes." " How?" " Playing football." "In Sehit Harun we were playing on a rocky field." "The ball went out and I wanted to catch it." "I jumped for it, but I fell." " From what height?" " About 3 meters." "Onto sharp rocks." "Then I noticed blood was flowing from my eye." "I fainted." "I thought I had lost my eye." "I asked my friends if it was still there." "They were too afraid to look." "The commander checked and reassured me." "I asked for a mirror to see for myself." "Losing an eye is horrible." "Imagine being blind." "A fighter needs eyes." "Feet are more important." "Like wheels on a car." "Without feet what's sight good!" "for?" "You could use a wheelchair." "Blind is much harder." "What good is living if you can't see?" "I wouldn't say that, but I prefer to have my eyes." "Me, my feet." "Are our lives nothing but a commodity for the Party to use on the political market?" "living with the contradictions of our struggle is painful." "But when I think of abandoning all this, I realize our struggle, our Party and our imprisoned leader are actually all we truly possess and all we can be proud of." "We never stop moving, especially in times of war." "We learn many things this way." "Like taking initiative." "We enrich our personalities." "We not only receive, we know how to give." "All of this helps develop moral values." "The negative aspect, is that for both sides" "war ultimately results in death." "Death is never good, for whatever reason." "But we don't have the choice..." "We didn't choose this life for pleasure." "Our reality has imposed it on us." "This freedom fighter's life can't last for long." "When we will have won everything will be different." "Living in the mountains won't be necessary anymore." "In war, people die." "That's true for both sides." "The moment you find yourself face to face with the enemy..." "That precise instant you're both aiming at each other..." "First you see the bullet leave the barrel." "Then, the enemy's face." "The last face you'll ever see." "That face the face of a human being who kills another human being." "Even if that face looks like a mask what's important is that there's a human being behind it." "Because those who kill wear no masks nor are they Angels of!" "Death, they are men" "who destroy their fellow men." "That's how I see it." "Aram is two hours ahead." "He should be expecting us." "That's the Little Qandil." " And the Big Qandil?" " On that side." "Are we already in Kani Cenge?" "Not quite." "June 3" "We're here." "The border camp is only a few hours away." "Mahir, the camp leader, is expecting us." "I realize the differences between Aram and Siyar regarding the danger to be faced." "For Aram who is from Dersim, it's a return home." "He's a laborer, a peasant." "He is far from grand political goals." "He will find himself face to face with his old enemy." "He'll do his job without thinking about much else." "Siyar is different." "For him, the north is a journey into his memory." "to the memory of his best friend, who died at the start of the war." "Siyar's story in the struggle is actually a long journey that will one day reunite him with his lost friend." "For me, it's clear..." "They will never let me cross the border." "An English-speaking martyr is worthless to the Party." "I've been with comrade Sabri for two hours." "This is the Dersim group." "You haven't left yet?" "A group of comrades will pass through your camp." "New fighters?" "I wonder if he's with them." " Who?" " My brother." " Is it possible?" " Yes." "He swore to join at 18." "He's almost 19 now." "I'm waiting for him." "It's the President's latest letter." "The developments are not good." " For heading north?" " No." "That's good." "But the general situation is very bad." "What was on TV about the Repentance Law?" "We should admit our mistakes." "We should have targeted the Turkish Prime Minister's circle." "Then he would have spoken differently." "But we didn't." "It's not easy." " That's enough." " We're fed up." "Our patience has reached an end." "This is being filmed!" "What will they think?" "We have nothing to hide." "You're going with them?" "They're heading north too?" "Our northern forces." "Don't use the term northern forces before actually getting there." "We're not there yet." "Once in Dersim we will be the Dersim group." "One step at a time." "My first step is Khaniri." "The second is to arrive at Qandil." "The third is to leave here." "In all, there are 6 steps." "I'm on the third." "But you'll go on." "That depends on the group that already left." "If nothing happens to them, then you'll leave." "Each attacker gets 2 grenades and 10 bullets." "5 for those who cover." "lO for everyone else." " You have grenades?" " Yes, 25." "There are two enemy posts to attack." "Approach in pairs to within 15 meters as quickly as possible." "Those with grenades, throw them first." "Those with the Kalachnikovs follow along to the post." "They'll pick up the wounded and dead, then pull back." "The others back off a little and cover their comrades." "Fifty meters from the battlefield, they can pull back." "Attention!" "To our martyrs!" "Any questions?" " Good luck." " Thank you." "No need to take your bag." "Be ready at 4." "Anything to add?" "June 6 ronight or the next night, the Dersim group will leave." "Aram and Siyar will follow them after a while." "In the darkness, they will cross the border, the mine fields, the enemy ambushes." "As of tomorrow, they will begin to lead different lives." "There will be no room for doubt, nor questions, nor political concerns." "Everything will become simple:" "Survive for as long as possible in their confrontations with the Turkish army." "I bid them farewell." "I mourn them already." "But I actually envy them." "I will continue my task as translator at the side of Party leaders." "I'll keep my questions to myself and give only the expected response." "I chose this duty for myself." "The other front is out of rolling papers." " Where?" " In Kure Heja." "What time is it?" "l0 o'clock." "It's early." "Have confidence in yourselves." "If not, the enemy will sense it." "Adaptation:" "Richard Lormand  Allan Peoples" "Processed by B.B. COM" " Paris"