YPJ-STAR Guerilla: I Have Made A Promise To My Conscience

The following is a translation of “Söz verdim vicdanıma” which was compiled by Medya Doz and- carried in Özgür Gündem.

The Sinjar (Şengal) massacre has not only left indelible marks in the hearts of people, but also brings to mind historical associations. Children who have listened to the stories of old massacres from their grandmothers are meeting on Sinjar Mountain. Scores of Kurdish, Armenian, Assyrian, Arab and Yazidi with guerillas, together with guerillas from many other faith and ethnic backgrounds, have come together in Sinjar with the same goal. One is the guerilla Viyan, who is from an Armenian family from Diyarbakir which migrated to the city of Kobanê in Rojava following the 1915 Armenian massacres. Viyan has participated in countless battles within the Rojava Revolution and has been wounded many times, most recently in the village of Sününe in Sinjar.

I Became A Part Of My Grandmother Stories

After she recovered she once again joined the defense units in Sinjar. Viyan explained her experiences in Sinar thus: “When I came face to face with the ISIS gang and we opened fire on each other the stories my grandmother had told me passed through my mind in a instant as if it were a film. It was as if I had become my grandmother and there was a feeling that the massacre I was living through had become a part of the massacres about which my grandmother told me. As the people passed across the border I could not stop myself from thinking about those kidnapped women, and I made a thousand promises to my conscience that I would do everything in my power so that the children I was carrying in my wounded arm would never again see such a massacre.”