VildanAtmaca/JINHA

WAN – The mother and sister of YPJ fighter NurselErgün, who lost her life fighting Daesh in Qamişlo, said the Van native spent her life struggling for freedom.

Over the last seven months, the resistance of the YPG/YPJ fighters in Rojava has reached historic proportions and witnessed the lives of countless heroes—especially the YPJ fighters who have become symbols of freedom for women around the world.NurselErgün, code name ViyanZilan, was one of those fighters, launching a suicide attack in the course of a battle with Daesh on January 4, 2014, in order not to fall into Daesh'shands.

Nursel a native of Erciş town in Van province,joined the PKK in 2006, when she was 17. Her mother Zerif says Nurselwas interested in the Kurdish freedom struggle and began reading the books of Abdullah Öcalan at a young age.

"Holding the Kurdish flag always made her happy. She wouldn’t put it down for hours," said Zerif of Nursel's childhood. The girl was deeply affected by the clashes between the PKK and Turkish soldiers that took place in the area. "Nursel didn't eat for days after one clash. She was devastated by sadness. We got mad at her and said, 'enough already; you've ruined yourself at this young age.' She said back to me, 'while we're sitting at home comfortably, our friends are becoming martyrs.'"

Young Nursel would often ask her mother why people were being killed in Kurdistan, and why it was being occupied. When she got older, Nursel argued that the massacres experienced in the 1930s by the Kurds were only going to grow. She was concerned by the system of "village guards"—the paramilitary system in which the Turkish state armed certain Kurds and favored them to encourage them to massacre and displace other Kurds involved in the Kurdish freedom struggle. Her analysis of historical and ongoing injustices drove her to join the PKK.

"My daughter Nursel would say, 'I'm going to be a fighter worthy of my mother,'" said Zerif. "After she left, she would call me on the phone and say, 'Mom, if I'm martyred, don't cry. Don't let anyone cry. Don't gratify the enemy.'"

"Some people need to struggle for this people," said NurtenErgün, Nursel's young sister. "My sister went, struggle and was martyred. When I saw her sorrow over the years at the deaths of guerrillas, I could send that one day she would be one, too."

Nurselloved the singers Rotinda and Dino, and would often head out on trips into the mountains, gathering flowers for their mother.Nurten remembers the last flower she brought home, the day she was going to join the PKK. It was a daisy.

(gk/mg/cm)