JINHA

WAN – The village of Doğanca held a memorial ceremony yesterday for NurselErgün (nom de guerre ViyanZilan), among the fighters lost in clashes with Daesh gangs near the Hisêniyê village of Qamişlo whose identity has recently been released.

On January 4, Viyan fell in a clash between YPG/YPJ fighters and Daesh gangs in the village, located in theCizîre Canton of Rojava. Her identity was only released recently. Two days ago, local NGOs and activists helped set up a tent for her family to receive condolences. They gathered for a memorial ceremony yesterday.

After the attendees fulfilled the religious obligations of the ceremony, there was a minute of silence.

"The Turkish Republic has for years tried to kill Kurds—first with Hizbullah, then with JITEM, now with Daesh," said İbrahim Alkan, chair of the Van branch of MEYA-DER (an organization to aid the families of those lost in war in Mesopotamia). "The names change but the mindset stays the same."

The covertly state-supported Islamic terror group Hizbullah carried out hundreds of assassinations against Kurdish civil society in the 1990s. JITEM, the intelligence and anti-terror unit of the gendarmerie, also became notorious for disappearing and murdering Kurds throughout the 1990s, producing a dirty war in the Kurdish region.

Özdal Üçer, the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) representative from Van, also spoke, noting that Kurdish women and young people have always led the struggle to liberate all four parts of Kurdistan.

Viyan's older brother, AdemErgün, called on all present to always come out in support of this struggle and the martyrs lost in it.

(va/gk/mg/cm)