Zehra Doğan-Bêrîtan Elyakut/JINHA

RIHA - Wahide Xenan, the mother of Kobanê hero Arîn Mîrkan, has visited the site of the Suruç bombing to honor the victims. There, she remembered her daughter as a

On July 20, Daesh launched a suicide bomb attack on a group of youth activists at the Amara Culture Center in Suruç, Turkey. The activists were in the midst of announcing their plans to travel to Kobanê to aid in the city's reconstruction when the suicide bomber attacked.

One of the slogans at the gathering was "from Sibel, to Arîn, we're going to victory." The slogan refers to Turkish communist fighter Sibel Bulut and Kurdish YPJ fighter Arîn Mîrkan. Both died defending the city of Kobanê as it was surrounded by a Daesh siege.

Arîn became famous for giving her life in a self-sacrifice action to liberate Kobanê's strategic Miştenur Hill from Daesh in October 2014. In the wake of the Suruç bombing, Arîn's mother Wahide Xenan and her older sister Dicle Gencxemis visited the tent set up for mourning for the 31 youth activists.

"The girl in my heart never died; I know she never died in yours," said Wahide on her visit to the site of the explosion. Arîn (born Dilar Gencxemis; Arîn was her nom de guerre) was the youngest of Wahide's 11 children. She was born in a village near the Rojava city of Efrîn.

"When I combed her hair, when I bathed her, when I put her to bed, I would always say sweet things to her. I spoke to her in a way that would dignify her," said Wahide. As she combed her daughter's hair, she would sing to her that she was beautiful. Now, she says, she still sings the same words to "the daughter I keep alive in my heart."

Wahide raised Arîn with particular care. "All mothers raise their children that way, but with me it was different; it was like I could see the future," said Wahide. Wahide remembers that in her childhood years, Arîn was always mature. She was a quiet, cheerful child. She refused to go to school for a time, saying that she could learn the same things and more by reading herself. After coming in top of her class in high school, Arîn joined the PKK at the age of 14.

"One night she came and hugged me tight and kissed me. I said, 'Is everything all right? Why are you hugging me like that?' She just smiled and said, 'because you're my mother,'" recalled Wahide. That was the night Arîn left to join the PKK. The family didn't see her for seven years, but she sent letters. Arîn rose to the rank of a commander in the YPJ.

One day, a friend of Arîn's came to tell Wahide that Arîn had traveled to Kobanê. When Wahide asked if she could see her, the friend said: "you can see her when Kobanê is free." A week later, Arîn gave her life to liberate Miştenur Hill. After Suruç, Wahide and Dicle will travel there next.

(fk/cm)