The Press Center of the People’s Defense Forces (HPG) confirmed in a statement the death of guerrillas Dîdar Jînda and Derya Botan. The two fighters were killed in 2018. They were both membersof the Free Women’s Units (YJA Star) and they were reportedly killed in an enemy attack in the Medya Defense Areas.
The HPG praised them as determined advocates of the women’s liberation ideology and selfless militants on the lines of the PKK and PAJK and expressed condolences to their families and the people of Kurdistan.
The statement provided the following information about the identity of the two Kurdish guerrillas:
Code name: Dîdar Jînda
First and last name: Zekiye Akın
Place of birth: Colemêrg
Names of mother and father: Burcu – Naif
Date and place of death: 13-12-2018 Medya Defense Areas
Code name: Derya Botan
First and last name: Melek Paksa
Place of birth: Cizîr
Names of mother and father: Xezal – Osman
Date and place of death: 13-12-2018 Medya Defense Areas
Dîdar Jînda
Dîdar Jînda was born in the traditionally resistant province of Hakkari (Colemêrg) and grew up in an environment close to the PKK. She never went to a state school and retained her Kurdish identity.
The oppression of the Turkish state was a constant presence in her life. When she became active in the revolutionary youth movement, she came to terms with the traditional role of women in society and was fascinated by Abdullah Öcalan’s approach, as he placed women’s liberation at the center of the freedom struggle.
After three years of revolutionary work in the youth movement, she decided to join the guerrillas and went to the mountains in 2013. For a short time she stayed in Bakur (North Kurdistan), then she went to the Medya Defense Areas for her training. With her determined attitude and her deep connection with her living and fallen comrades, she accomplished tasks that seemed almost impossible. The HPG describe Dîdar as a sincere comrade and fighter who defended the women’s liberation ideology under all circumstances.
Derya Botan
Derya Botan was born and grew up in Cizre (Cizîr) in the Botan region, which is characterized by the Kurdish freedom struggle. Even as a child, she listened with fascination to the heroic stories that were told about the guerrillas. She went to school for eight years, but she was not allowed to speak her mother tongue. After that, she contributed to her family’s livelihood as a seasonal worker in various places and experienced first-hand what exploitation means. She realized that economic development in Kurdistan was being deliberately prevented.
She experienced a lot in her youth, and the final impetus for her journey to the mountains was the brutal suppression of the resistance for self-government. In 2015, she joined the guerrillas and vowed to avenge the people burned alive in the death cellars in Cizre. After an intensive period of training, she took on tasks in various places in the Medya Defense Areas and developed into a capable fighter in the YJA Star.
Education was essential for her. She had to be prepared in every way for the fight against the denial and destruction of her people. In further ideological and military training, she concentrated primarily on the history of the women’s army and on Jineolojî. She continued to put the knowledge she gained into practice until the end.