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Legend of Sur: Sonay, Nurcan, Roza

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May 27 / 2016


 
 

 
Şehriban Aslan-Aysel Işık/JINHA
 
MELETÎ - Diyarbakır's Sur district is already called as, "The town resisted longest against the atrocity" in the history of humanity. Sonay Engin (nom de guerre: Nucan Malatya) was "Sniper Roza" of Sur. She was everywhere fire broke out with her revolutionary personality. She took it as her duty. Sonay was a laborer of the miracle in Kobanê. She turned her face to Sur after Kobanê. She became a legend in the legend of resistance of Sur which contined for 103 days. She whispered her name to the walls of Amed forever and ever. 
 
When the time showed December 2, 2015, another history was being written between a thousand years history. A legend rose from the walls of Sur when the hours, days, weeks passed. The eyes could see the smoke rose from the town. A curiosity and anger surrounded a half million people in Diyarbakır. Over the months, people couldn't take any information about the history was written between those walls. The legends got around and they became a hope for the kuçeyen (streets) which hide the secrets in Sur. Who was in Sur? Who wrote this history?
 
The name of "Sniper Roza" was heard as a legend in Sur. The newspapers captioned as "A Serbian sniper is in Sur" and Diyabakır people knew this legend. However, the sinper wasn't Serbian, she is Sonay Engin (nom de guerre: Nucan Malatya). Sonay spread fear among Daesh gangs' members in Kobanê. She came to Sur to join the resistance after the resistance in Kobanê lasted months. Sonay resisted in Sur for 103 days, and then she closed her eyes in Sur. We listened to the resistance of Sonay from her family in the land of her birth. 
 
Sonay was born in the Yukarı Boyaca village of Malatya's Yazıhan district in 1978. She had to leave school after her education in the elementary school due to financial difficulty like many children in Kurdistan. She joined every action at a young age even if she lived in the village. Loving her room Sonay read books to improve her and weaved the rugs. She decorated the walls of her room with flag of the PKK. Sonay also loved to host her friends. She took care of her father due to she was the youngest child of the family. She wanted to join the PKK; however, her prisoner brother told her to wait him and their parents weren't able to stomach that. Sonay waited her brother to be free and she went to Diyarbakır and worked at Özgür Halk Dergisi (Free People Magazine) for five years. 
 
Sonay joined the PKK in 2009 and went to Rojava. She played a part in the revolution at the beginning. Then, she came to Sur from Kobanê and she died on February. Her body could be evacuated from Sur after months and taken to Antep Forensic Medicine Institute and she was identified by DNA test. Sonay's family took her to the place of birth. The women shouted a slogan "Long lives the resistance of Sur" while they bid farewell to Sonay. 
 
Sonay's childhood friend Emine Bayar said, "The words are not enough to describe Sonay. Now you are asking her to me; however, I don't know how I can. Sonay was a great person. She had a great heart. We gathered with Sonay and the women in the village. She was a positive and energetic person. She had a proud stance in the life like in the struggle. She encouraged everyone."
 
The wife of Sonay's brother said, "The death of Sonay affected me badly. She grew up with my children. When she had something on her mind, she did never give up her discourse. She improved herself and she reached the level of a commander. We'll stand behind of her struggle and we'll carry the flag which she left."
 
(gc/fk/gd)