JINHA

MÊRDÎN – A massive crowd in Nusaybin bid their final farewell to their native daughter LeylaDoğan (nom de guerre LeylaNisêbîn), the YPJ fighter who lost her life in the struggle to liberate Kobanê from Daesh.

On March 3, Leyla fell in the effort to liberate the village of Çelebi, in the east of the canton, from Daesh occupation. After an autopsy in Urfa, volunteers and Leyla's family bore her coffin to her hometown of Nusaybin.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Democratic Regions Party (DBP) MPs and co-mayors from not just Nusaybin, but several towns and cities around the border town led the crowd of 10,000 waiting at the entrance to the city to receive Leyla.

The masses bore Leyla's coffin on their shoulders to a martyrs' ceremony to be interred alongside PKK fighters. After a moment of silence for those lost in the struggle for democracy, representatives from MEYA-DER (an organization for solidarity with the families of those lost in war in Mesopotamia) and the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) spoke at the funeral. The crowd frequently interrupted them with applause, ululations and cries of "martyrs never die."

Leyla's father HüseyinDoğan thanked the crowd for attending. He said he would always follow the struggle of his daughter and her comrades.

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Mardin provincial co-chair Ömer Öcalan said that Leyla had "sacrificed her young life for the future of her people."

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