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SOMEWHERE IN THE KURDISH MOUNTAINS, IN A POLITICAL
DISPUTED TERRITORY IN NORTHERN IRAQ, NEAR THE BORDER WITH TURKEY.

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This flower is called 'Kurdistan'.
It has four petals.

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It symbolises Kurdistan, which it is a divided land.

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Into 4 parts:

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Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

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The petals are facing down, they are sad.
Because Kurdistan is divided.

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After 18 years, Zilan finally wanted to see her homeland again: Kurdistan,

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about the life she now leads in Europe,
to reconnect with their former life,

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life as a resistance fighter in the mountains.

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A risky journey that we also want for her friend and ex-commander,
Sakina, whose story will also be told.

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Why does a young woman decide to "go to the mountains"?

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to radically leave everything behind
and join a resistance movement?

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How great must it be to give up everything that young people have to do?
usually wish to leave everything behind,

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perhaps with no chance of ever returning?

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How old this story is...

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The mountains have always been a place of safety for the Kurds.

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'The Kurds have no friends but the mountains'.
They protect them.

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On this trip I learned anew about the term “resilience”.

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With around 40 million people, the Kurds make up the world's largest population
largest ethnic group in the world without a state recognized under international law.

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How do you find your own identity when it's forbidden?

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As I Zilan's former commander and current girlfriend
met Sakina in person for the first time,

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I was immediately fascinated by the depth of their stories.

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She lived as a resistance fighter in the mountains
For 12 years before she decided on a new life:

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the life of a singer.

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I asked her if she could tell me more about her life journey.

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For security reasons we had to
postpone our film trip to Armenia.

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Two of their former comrades were in Kurdistan
murdered by Turkish drones in Kurdistan.

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'Everyone has a Kurdistan,
only the Kurds don't have a Kurdistan'

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When you talk about Kurdistan, people ask:
'Which Kurdistan do you come from?'

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Kurdistan was occupied by four countries.
I was born in the Turkish part.

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Kurdistan starts right there.
I was born behind this very mountain, called Ararat.

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Although I was born in Kurdistan,
I had never heard of it.

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Only once at school did a friend of mine ask our teacher:

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'Why are there English, French and Turkish
songs on the radio but no Kurdish ones?'

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'You should not ask such questions', she replied.

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Due to the effects of the
Assimilation policy in the four countries mentioned,

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The Kurdish language is now considered to be threatened in its existence.

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Sakina is considered a former guerrilla commander
as a wanted terrorist in her home country of Türkiye.

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I have not seen my home town or my country for 30 years.

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When you decide to become a guerrilla fighter,
you can never go back.

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You can only return when you are dead.

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Or sometimes not even then,
guerrillas are not allowed to be buried in Kurdistan.

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That's why I say: 'In Kurdistan, if you want to keep
a good conscience, the return paths are blocked.'

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You can say: 'Dear state, I made a mistake – I am back.'

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But then you have to work for the state.
You have to give away your comrades.

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Sakina processes this in a self-composed song
the pain of being separated from her mother and pays tribute to it.

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I'm fighting for all mothers who went to look for their children.

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♫ My little lamb has come

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♫ It stands by the raging river

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'MY LAMB'
♫ The path is blocked

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♫ The wolves getting closer and closer,
On the trail of my little lamb

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♫ The path is blocked

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♫ The wolves getting closer and closer,
On the trail of my little lamb

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♫ I hike through the mountains

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♫ And pray to Xizir (mythical creature)

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♫ May my chest become a raft

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♫ So that my little lamb can reach the other bank

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In Kurdistan there are thousands of mothers
longing for their children.

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So far they have not found their bones
and are still waiting for them to return.

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Or mothers who walk a thousand
miles to visit their children in prison.

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With this song I wanted to say:
'Yes, mother, I understand. You were very worried.'

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'I love you. If I leave you it is not because I do not love you.'

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Maybe I fight for you. Also for your rights.

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When I saw my mother again after 19 years,

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I could not hug my mother.
Of course I did as a greeting.

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My mother wanted to hug me constantly,

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wanted to hold me all the time.
But I could not do it.

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I discovered I did not feel worthy of it.

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I thought of my fallen comrades and their mothers.

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They will never have this again.

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Who knows, if we can ever meet again...
I am not sure if that will happen...

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I will try to hug her. For her sake.

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♫ My soul burns with worry for my little lamb

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♫ I'm losing my mind worrying about my little lamb

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♫ I'm losing my mind

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Singing is usually associated with culture or entertainment.

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However, Sakina's path there came from other sources
 - and as an alternative to death.

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For freedom and dreams you have to pay a price.

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In the early 1990s it was not possible
to say 'Kurdistan' or that you were a Kurd.

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Today you can say you are Kurdish and 'Kurdistan' exists.

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But it cost the lives of over 25.000 Kurdish people.
That's an enormous tribute.

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Freedom costs. We have not gotten it yet.
There are thousands of reasons for that.

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Geopolitically speaking, Kurdistan is located
in a very important area.

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Thousands of hands are involved.
The imperialists play a role,

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The European Union has a big impact.
They supply weapons. German tanks for example.

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The Kurdish question is for the whole world.
Like it is with Palestine or Afghanistan.

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Wherever war breaks out, the whole world is involved.

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It's a problem for the whole of humanity.

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But how can we, for example, make our neighbour
who has lost all four of her sons ever happy again?

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What kind of peace could ever bring them back for her?

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As our first day of trekking came to an end, I had a lot of thoughts.

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What Sakina had experienced was a completely different dimension.

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Until now, I only knew of voluntarily chosen survival hikes.

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Sleeping without a tent and spending nights in the mountains for years, 
I couldn't imagine that.

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Guerrilla fighters move at night.
You sleep with your equipment at hand, with your shoes on.

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You have to be ready to leave at any moment.

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You do not use a sleeping bag.
My blanket was the sky...

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Now I am 49 years old and no longer a guerrilla.

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Today I am here as a hiker.
Telling my story on the spot.

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There are no shops in the mountains.
You don't have any money. Not even a passport.

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You just cross any borders.

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Mobility is your life insurance.
You walk 16 hours a day.

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We were in a very dangerous situation:
Helicopters had spotted us.

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None of us thought we would survive this.

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In situations like this one, you look into
each other's eyes as if to say goodbye.

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The place looked something like this here.
Our group sat here.

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One comrade, one of the guerrillas from our group,

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looked into everyone's eyes one last time.

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And then he ran that way.

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He sacrificed himself.

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Those few seconds were enough for the others to flee.

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20 YEARS EARLIER

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For Zilan, life in the mountains was like being a teenager
not only from the physical and existential challenges,

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but also from the constantly changing
complex regional and geopolitical conflicts.

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When I look back, there are too many painful memories
- but also a feeling of nostalgia.

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The guerrilla fighters' front line expanded dramatically
with the rise of the terrorist militia Daesh,

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better known in the West as ISIS.

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In 2014 the world looked at Kobanê in northern Syria,

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when the entire region was almost completely destroyed by ISIS
and 400,000 refugees were left without a home.

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For the first time, the international media reported and paid tribute
the commitment of the Kurdish fighters and their allies,

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whose decisive intervention turned the tide of the battle.

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Suddenly they were even unsolicited by fashion magazines
celebrated as a symbol of a new role for women.

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THE RESISTANCE REMAINS...

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THE RESISTANCE REMAINS...
But their actual motivation was almost never reported.

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So the fight for Kurdish identity continued.
The memory of this is still kept alive in the cemeteries today.

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The style of fighting has changed in recent decades,

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anonymous drones were increasingly killing
Kurdish activists from afar.

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Not only does the politics of assimilation become clear here,

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but also a targeted strategy against women,

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that question the foundations of the patriarchal value system.

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But what is home now, after the costly battles for identity?

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For me, 'home' means: The mountains.

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Because I grew up, became a human being, in the mountains.

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The mountains protected me...welcomed me.

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Just like in Kurdish history:
'Kurds don't have any friends but the mountains.'

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Going into the mountains was not my own decision, I was only 13.

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At that time, my parents were politically persecuted in Turkey.

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So we left the country.

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And my parents decided to give me to the movement when I was 13...

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which was normal and okay at the time,
they gave me to the movement as a gift.

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I was not the only one. Thousands of Kurdish girls have the same story.

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Being part of the movement was a big thing for me.
I was proud to fight for my people.

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In the beginning, of course, I idealised:
'It's women fighting against the patriarchal system, a state...'

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I was expecting militants, but after meeting new friends and comrades

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I saw how loving many were.

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My first female commander said:
'We are not here to kill,

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we fight to protect ourselves and life itself.'

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This impressed me and especially that women had influence.

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This influence was anything but self-evident.

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In the generation before Zilan, the women of the movement
worked hard to carve their own path.

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They fought in partnership alongside their male comrades

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but independent as a women's collective with its own rules.

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A 30% proportion of women in the movement
interwoven with practical feminism, called Jinology:

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This was an extreme nuisance to the opposing forces,

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and led to aggressive retaliation
and increasing femicide,

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which are propagated by the IS soldiers in the most barbaric way.

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Walking in the mountains today,
I search for traces of war or friends...and memories.

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I was hoping to find traces of freedom fighters here,
of friends who left something behind when they made a fire...

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And then, sitting here, I find this...

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I learned how to use this weapon,
which is normally used against planes or cars.

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But I also learnt that many armies have used it against us, human beings.

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It's crazy that a piece of metal
can hold such strong memories...and pain.

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I met Sakina for the first time in a training centre.
She was always laughing...

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She is a commander...how could she laugh,
sing and jump around all the time?

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She approached everything with humour
and on a human level.

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She was never dogmatic, like:
'We have to talk about Marxism or feminism...'

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She behaved like it: She ate with us, she argued with us...

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I would not say she was our commander...she was part of us.

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Commanders were role models, with years of
experience in war or in the movement.

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They were idols.

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I was always looking for mother figures,
for psychological reasons of course.

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Commander, mother, now a friend. She's been all together.

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I have seen many 'male' women of rank.
How they used their power...

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But there were also others like Sakina,
who could reflect and allow for self-criticism.

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Sometimes you could see that she had doubts...

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And that was what made her authentic and real to me.

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I've always had one goal:
To be there for children and to work with them.

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So that children have a childhood.
I work as a youth therapist now.

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And I do a lot of women's work on the side.

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When I got this gift from Sakina,

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I had a process in my mind:
I wanted to study, I wanted to learn.

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I wanted to show children that there are other ways.

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She wrote the following:

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HOPE IS WORTH MORE THAN VICTORY

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I was really hopeless back then.
And before she left the group she gave it to me.

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I take it with me everywhere I go. It is always with me in my wallet.

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And I will continue to do so, because it really motivates me.

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On our trip in Armenia Sakina also showed me
how to make a smokeless fire.

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She told me about harsh winters

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and from the only national source
the otherwise suppressed Kurdish culture in their youth:

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Radio Yerevan.

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We left the mountains and went there,
where guerrilla fighters never go:

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To the city.

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We met the current editor-in-chief of Radio Yerevan,

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whose father this important Kurdish
program was launched.

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Many listeners have called or written to us and said:
"We didn't know we were Kurds."

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"It's only through your shipments that we have ours
discovered our common language and identity."

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Many said they met secretly,
to listen to the radio because the language was banned in Turkey.

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The radio has been around since 1930, but initially only locally.

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In 1955, cross-border Kurdish shipments were added.
That was new.

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In the Soviet Union, all minorities had the opportunity
to promote their language and identity.

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At that time there was a Kurdish radio,
a newspaper and a department at the university.

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Books were published in the Kurdish dialect 'Kurmanci'.

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In primary schools there were also lessons in the native language.

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Back in the mountains,

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our conversations became more and more in-depth

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towards the beginning of an unusual,
individual and irreversible decision.

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Why exactly had Sakina decided
to go to the mountains when she was 19?

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A decision with extreme consequences.

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Once my brother came back from university
and started arguing with our mother.

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He was very angry and said:
'We are Kurds, why didn't you tell us?'

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'Why did you lie to us?'

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She was scared.

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She did not want to admit he was right.

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You could only speak Kurdish in private.
And even then only with care.

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One night we were sitting at home when my mother
suddenly put her hand on her heart and said:

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'Something bad has happened, I can feel it.'

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Soon after we found out my brother was arrested.

219
00:24:30,750 --> 00:24:35,916
He was 13, and during an identity check,
they saw his name was 'Yilmaz'...

220
00:24:36,333 --> 00:24:40,625
Just because of his name, he was arrested and tortured...

221
00:24:41,750 --> 00:24:44,125
And my uncle was a guerrilla.

222
00:24:44,541 --> 00:24:53,000
Whenever soldiers came to the village,
they asked about him.

223
00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,750
They took some family members with them
and tortured them.

224
00:24:59,208 --> 00:25:01,666
'Where is he? When is he coming home?'

225
00:25:02,291 --> 00:25:06,916
My father did not have much money.
He was a postman.

226
00:25:07,583 --> 00:25:10,958
He himself only went to school for five years.

227
00:25:11,291 --> 00:25:14,416
That's why he did everything he could do
to give us the opportunity to study.

228
00:25:15,458 --> 00:25:19,333
When it was my turn, I was sent to Edirne

229
00:25:19,958 --> 00:25:23,750
which was about 26 hours by bus from our hometown.

230
00:25:24,875 --> 00:25:30,125
We had no relatives or friends there, so I was a stranger.

231
00:25:30,791 --> 00:25:34,708
I needed a place to stay and looked at a student hostel.

232
00:25:35,125 --> 00:25:43,041
So I went to their office and asked
if they could help me, because I had no place to sleep.

233
00:25:43,708 --> 00:25:45,791
The officer was very friendly at first.

234
00:25:46,291 --> 00:25:50,041
But that changed completely when I showed him my ID.

235
00:25:50,666 --> 00:25:56,791
He said to me: 'Look in my eyes,
do I look like I would give a place to a terrorist?'

236
00:25:57,875 --> 00:26:04,166
From that moment I knew I was different.

237
00:26:05,083 --> 00:26:12,750
If someone asked me when I found my identity,
I would say in that very moment.

238
00:26:13,541 --> 00:26:20,500
It was in the early 1990 and I was so eager to learn more.

239
00:26:21,708 --> 00:26:24,166
About the history, where do the Kurds come from...

240
00:26:24,875 --> 00:26:30,750
Why is there a policy of suppression and assimilation?
I read everything I could.

241
00:26:31,458 --> 00:26:35,666
I can say my political activities started when I was 17.

242
00:26:36,833 --> 00:26:43,208
In the early 1990s, the political climate
was very rough all over Kurdistan.

243
00:26:43,791 --> 00:26:50,750
People were in the streets,
shouting for freedom.

244
00:26:51,458 --> 00:26:52,541
They were demanding their rights.

245
00:26:52,833 --> 00:26:59,666
We often went to demonstrations and meetings.
We were the radical left wing youth....

246
00:27:00,708 --> 00:27:10,541
I was part of a music group as a student.
I was the first singer in this city to ever perform in Kurdish.

247
00:27:11,416 --> 00:27:17,416
The hall was full and the audience
was expecting something different I think.

248
00:27:17,750 --> 00:27:24,083
In those days there always had to be
a getaway car waiting behind the stage.

249
00:27:24,541 --> 00:27:29,333
Because if you sang in Kurdish you had to flee afterwards.

250
00:27:29,916 --> 00:27:34,750
Even now, it is still problematic.
When there is a festival, they call it 'Anatolian music'.

251
00:27:34,750 --> 00:27:40,875
Or 'music from Mesopotamia'.
It is still not good to mention Kurdistan.

252
00:27:41,708 --> 00:27:44,000
At 18, I had to make a choice...

253
00:27:45,250 --> 00:27:50,458
33 of my closest friends went into the mountains.

254
00:27:52,250 --> 00:28:02,125
That made me think:
Am I just going to sing? Is it enough to get freedom?

255
00:28:02,708 --> 00:28:08,458
Singing was also dangerous. It was forbidden.
Many singers were arrested and killed.

256
00:28:08,750 --> 00:28:13,833
But of course you think carefully
before making such a big decision.

257
00:28:14,458 --> 00:28:17,541
It was absolutely clear to me,
that I could never come back.

258
00:28:18,500 --> 00:28:28,083
Because you go to war.
I knew I could never see my friends and family again.

259
00:28:28,750 --> 00:28:36,125
When you are 18, you do not know much.
But with time, yes. Things happen fast.

260
00:28:36,125 --> 00:28:43,333
I only brought a pair of socks,
two pairs of underwear and a T-shirt. That was it.

261
00:28:44,208 --> 00:28:51,958
I left a letter. But for some unknown reason
my parents did not get it.

262
00:28:52,708 --> 00:28:57,250
For a long time they did not know where I was and if I was alive.

263
00:28:57,833 --> 00:29:01,083
You are sad but you know

264
00:29:02,875 --> 00:29:05,291
you have to walk this path.

265
00:29:08,208 --> 00:29:10,250
Of course, one goal was to free Kurdistan.

266
00:29:11,833 --> 00:29:13,708
To have our own state.

267
00:29:14,375 --> 00:29:17,958
I felt this responsibility very strongly.

268
00:29:18,875 --> 00:29:27,083
There were thousands of people in the mountains.
Everywhere you went there was someone you knew.

269
00:29:27,708 --> 00:29:33,458
Music was always at my side, wherever I went.
I kept on singing in the mountains.

270
00:29:34,500 --> 00:29:39,791
At this moment, young people born in 2002,
are being killed in these mountains...in their 20s.

271
00:30:05,208 --> 00:30:15,583
'SPRING': In memory of three activists murdered in Paris in 2013.
Including Sakîne Cansiz, co-founder of the Kurdish resistance movement.

272
00:30:34,166 --> 00:30:41,125
After all these years of fighting for your own identity
in an asymmetric war, losing so many people close to you,

273
00:30:41,333 --> 00:30:48,666
the horror of torture, hunger,
cold and other hardships, the impossibility of returning,

274
00:30:49,166 --> 00:30:51,208
How does Kurdistan feel now?

275
00:30:51,791 --> 00:30:56,041
Zilan wanted to help Sakina overcome this distance and had an idea.

276
00:30:58,083 --> 00:31:07,291
Sakina gave me the scarf of Heval Sara (Sakîne Cansiz),
who was murdered in Paris, to bring here.

277
00:31:07,291 --> 00:31:11,750
It is the only thing she has from her time in the movement.

278
00:31:12,166 --> 00:31:16,583
She said: 'I left everything behind, I don't have much.'

279
00:31:16,916 --> 00:31:21,041
So I decided to wear this scarf when I came back to these mountains.

280
00:31:22,625 --> 00:31:25,000
As I continue my journey alone without Zilan

281
00:31:25,166 --> 00:31:30,583
The filming took place in different locations
Regions of Kurdistan more difficult than I expected.

282
00:31:31,208 --> 00:31:33,291
When I was stuck at a border post again

283
00:31:33,541 --> 00:31:35,041
and didn't know what to do next,

284
00:31:35,333 --> 00:31:39,708
Sakina recommended me on the phone,
to contact a friend of hers.

285
00:31:40,250 --> 00:31:45,000
I've never had one like this in my life
experience natural support from a stranger.

286
00:31:45,833 --> 00:31:50,833
He guided me with his confident modesty
patiently over almost all obstacles.

287
00:31:51,541 --> 00:31:57,125
Since he is a former guerrilla commander himself, he asked for it
to remain anonymous to protect everyone's safety.

288
00:31:58,208 --> 00:32:00,791
He told me about his time with Sakina in the movement.

289
00:32:01,250 --> 00:32:04,166
What an energetic and warm-hearted person she was.

290
00:32:04,583 --> 00:32:08,916
And as he could see, she actually was
on a journey to find a lost melody.

291
00:32:09,375 --> 00:32:13,833
He remembered Sakina telling him,
that she would not remain in military activism.

292
00:32:17,125 --> 00:32:24,375
Sakina left the movement and began the difficult path
a solo career as a singer in Europe without any support.

293
00:32:28,083 --> 00:32:33,416
Nevertheless, she remained politically active
and remained connected in thoughts with her comrades.

294
00:32:37,125 --> 00:32:39,250
As we hiked through the Armenian mountains,

295
00:32:39,583 --> 00:32:44,500
Sakina told me more about the fate of some
of their former comrades if they had survived.

296
00:32:45,041 --> 00:32:48,166
And again and again about the cruel reality of the Yazidis,

297
00:32:48,416 --> 00:32:53,958
a religious minority in Kurdistan,
who suffered a tragic fate in Shingal a few years ago.

298
00:32:55,083 --> 00:33:01,708
When ISIS attacked Shingal in Iraq and occupied Syria,

299
00:33:03,208 --> 00:33:06,250
Kurdish women became important.

300
00:33:06,250 --> 00:33:14,541
ISIS is a general danger, an enemy for the whole world.
They also blew up bombs in Europe.

301
00:33:14,541 --> 00:33:23,958
Kurdish women were heroes. They saved the world.
They defeated ISIS. But then they were forgotten again.

302
00:33:25,666 --> 00:33:31,166
Like millions of others, I saw the pictures on the news
about the Yazidi genocide in 2014

303
00:33:31,458 --> 00:33:32,500
– from a distance.

304
00:33:33,666 --> 00:33:36,583
Now I could better understand the magnitude of the tragedy.

305
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,083
Understanding the consequences, however, was another matter entirely.

306
00:33:43,166 --> 00:33:48,958
Sakina explained to me the complex connections,
but only later when I met a young Yazidi woman,

307
00:33:49,291 --> 00:33:55,125
who survived this hell at the age of 17,
I felt the special dimension.

308
00:33:57,250 --> 00:33:58,416
In her eyes,

309
00:33:58,416 --> 00:34:00,625
as a result of an extreme mental journey,

310
00:34:01,041 --> 00:34:04,791
was the inevitable color of one
resilience developed through pain.

311
00:34:06,750 --> 00:34:13,708
The year ISIS attacked us Yazidis

312
00:34:14,333 --> 00:34:20,375
it was my last year of college.
About ten years ago.

313
00:34:20,708 --> 00:34:25,791
As a child I had the opportunity
not predicting an ISIS attack.

314
00:34:26,541 --> 00:34:27,666
We were in bed.

315
00:34:28,291 --> 00:34:31,666
It was three o'clock in the morning,

316
00:34:32,041 --> 00:34:40,333
We were woken up by shots, screams and children crying.

317
00:34:41,375 --> 00:34:48,333
As we left the village I looked back
and saw so many people fleeing on foot.

318
00:34:48,958 --> 00:34:55,791
I watched her, just like me
now look into this camera.

319
00:34:57,083 --> 00:35:01,541
A tear ran down my cheek.

320
00:35:05,625 --> 00:35:06,750
Just a tear.

321
00:35:23,083 --> 00:35:28,375
The village we left eight years ago
is now a cemetery.

322
00:35:28,833 --> 00:35:35,458
Nobody knows who these graves belong to.

323
00:35:36,666 --> 00:35:50,916
Every time we Yazidis were attacked,
was the only safe place,

324
00:35:52,666 --> 00:35:58,625
always been this one mountain.
So we went there again.

325
00:35:59,625 --> 00:36:08,708
We spent nine days and nights there.
Without food and water.

326
00:36:09,958 --> 00:36:14,791
Everyone thought they were going to die - except me.

327
00:36:16,875 --> 00:36:22,375
Wajeda and the Yazidis in the mountains eventually became
rescued by resistance fighters of the movement

328
00:36:22,791 --> 00:36:26,791
and brought to safety in the Syrian part of Kurdistan, Rojava.

329
00:36:27,166 --> 00:36:34,375
The refugee centers there became a new home for many
- also for Wajeda, who spent 4 years there with her family.

330
00:36:34,916 --> 00:36:39,583
To this day there are numerous camps in the
Border area between Syria and Iraq.

331
00:36:39,958 --> 00:36:41,958
I visited one of the largest:

332
00:36:42,333 --> 00:36:50,375
18,000 Yazidis live here alone, without knowing when they will
when they can ever return because the genocide continues.

333
00:36:51,416 --> 00:36:56,708
Once again, a new homeless generation is growing
and in search of identity.

334
00:37:15,833 --> 00:37:23,125
The search for traces of Sakina's origins was overshadowed
overshadowed from the outside by the events in Iran shortly before our trip.

335
00:37:24,583 --> 00:37:31,750
The violent death of the young Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini
triggered a new wave of resistance against the regime,

336
00:37:32,416 --> 00:37:36,625
and the Kurds in Iran in particular felt its particular severity.

337
00:37:37,416 --> 00:37:43,458
She experienced and helped shape the roots of Kurdish feminism,
Sakina wanted to make a point clear.

338
00:37:44,541 --> 00:37:51,750
There is a strong movement in Iran currently,
with women at the forefront of it.

339
00:37:52,250 --> 00:37:56,916
They're shouting a slogan in the streets every day:
'Women, life, freedom'

340
00:37:57,250 --> 00:38:01,250
This slogan came from Kurdish women in the early 2000s.

341
00:38:01,666 --> 00:38:19,625
We knew from the beginning, that 90% of our struggle
would be against our own society and classical role models.

342
00:38:20,125 --> 00:38:25,458
There were very few feminists,
very few women knew anything about it.

343
00:38:25,875 --> 00:38:27,750
I became a feminist in the mountains.

344
00:38:29,041 --> 00:38:35,625
In the beginning there was always a man who led our group for two days.

345
00:38:36,750 --> 00:38:41,416
When someone leads you, you do not learn.

346
00:38:41,875 --> 00:38:49,875
Either we freeze or we learn how to cut wood.
This does not require strength but technique.

347
00:38:50,166 --> 00:38:58,583
Part of your struggle is also with nature. Maybe it's the wrong
expression, but you have to fight against nature.

348
00:38:59,333 --> 00:39:05,750
'Freedom' is a shared responsibility. You earn it.

349
00:39:06,333 --> 00:39:17,416
The women's army should be different, act as an alternative.
What can they change to set themselves apart from the men.

350
00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:26,375
Speaking your mind, giving criticism.
Every night a small group of eight people

351
00:39:26,708 --> 00:39:36,166
sits together and analyses their day.
Anyone's mistakes could be criticised, decisions discussed.

352
00:39:36,708 --> 00:39:41,333
War begins when you are not allowed to speak.

353
00:39:44,333 --> 00:39:51,333
Some of the ideals that Sakina had fought for in the movement
are laboriously implemented in fragile political structures

354
00:39:51,750 --> 00:39:56,666
in the still heavily besieged Kurdish part of Syria, called Rojava.

355
00:39:58,125 --> 00:40:01,625
Entry from Kurdish Iraq was therefore almost impossible,

356
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,166
who is politically more inclined towards Turkey and Iran.

357
00:40:06,833 --> 00:40:14,000
After weeks of waiting and a grueling six hour ordeal
at the border on the Tigris, I was finally allowed into Rojava,

358
00:40:14,333 --> 00:40:17,666
where I met my Syrian representative of resilience.

359
00:40:19,625 --> 00:40:25,958
Like everyone from Rojava (Syria), I am
born and raised in a village.

360
00:40:26,583 --> 00:40:33,250
It is impossible to simply leave your homeland behind.

361
00:40:33,791 --> 00:40:42,416
Even though we are constantly threatened by drone attacks,

362
00:40:43,500 --> 00:40:46,666
let's not think about it
and let no fear enter our hearts.

363
00:40:46,875 --> 00:40:52,416
The social norms and rules
in my village have always been very strict.

364
00:40:53,166 --> 00:41:01,833
Even now they still exist, especially for women,
which is unacceptable to me.

365
00:41:02,458 --> 00:41:07,375
These rules prevented women from
to leave their homes.

366
00:41:08,333 --> 00:41:13,708
There was an empty house in our village,

367
00:41:13,875 --> 00:41:25,583
which I often visited to express my feelings
and shout out my anger.

368
00:41:26,083 --> 00:41:31,083
That's why this house has so much meaning in my life.

369
00:41:36,375 --> 00:41:39,583
WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM

370
00:41:39,958 --> 00:41:43,708
I hear the slogan 'Women, Life, Freedom'
for over ten years.

371
00:41:44,250 --> 00:41:47,416
But so far women here are not free.

372
00:41:47,791 --> 00:41:51,500
It is important that women build something for themselves.

373
00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:58,375
When I achieve my goal, I achieve freedom.
Every woman everywhere should have this opportunity.

374
00:41:58,666 --> 00:42:01,458
Only then can we say 'Women, Life, Freedom'
and we will be free.

375
00:42:02,291 --> 00:42:09,083
I would like to travel, see the world.
Especially more from Kurdistan.

376
00:42:09,083 --> 00:42:16,041
But we are trapped here in Rojava.
We are not allowed to travel to other parts of Kurdistan.

377
00:42:16,500 --> 00:42:19,333
Neighboring countries have turned their attention to Rojava.

378
00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:29,708
Your decisions make ours
daily plans and projects come to naught.

379
00:42:29,708 --> 00:42:36,291
We suffer a lot of hardships, they try
to stop us from working.

380
00:42:36,291 --> 00:42:45,166
Electricity, water and gas are often turned off.

381
00:42:45,583 --> 00:42:48,833
But we carry on.

382
00:42:51,333 --> 00:43:02,416
Our resistance fighters who live in the mountains
I've always been interested in how they do things.

383
00:43:02,416 --> 00:43:06,500
That's why I was there once to join them.

384
00:43:06,791 --> 00:43:08,458
I was 19 years old at the time.

385
00:43:08,833 --> 00:43:17,541
I wanted to have this experience myself.
My family was against it.

386
00:43:18,625 --> 00:43:20,833
Still, I went and stayed for three months.

387
00:43:21,083 --> 00:43:25,500
Then I returned to Rojava to continue my work.

388
00:43:26,375 --> 00:43:30,041
My message to all women
especially to Kurdish women, is:

389
00:43:30,375 --> 00:43:35,458
Don't suppress your art or any other passion.

390
00:43:35,916 --> 00:43:38,500
Keep pursuing them.

391
00:43:39,083 --> 00:43:41,083
Improve yourself at every level.

392
00:43:41,333 --> 00:43:43,666
If women don't motivate themselves, no one will.

393
00:43:51,083 --> 00:43:56,208
Jinwar is a very successful project in Rojava,

394
00:43:56,541 --> 00:44:04,333
as it offered refuge to many women,
who were once homeless and hopeless.

395
00:44:04,875 --> 00:44:12,333
Now they have a home there with everything they need.

396
00:44:12,583 --> 00:44:19,750
They even have many folkloric ones
Elements of our culture revived.

397
00:44:22,333 --> 00:44:28,333
Like a utopia, Jinwar defies a warlike environment,
to create new life.

398
00:44:28,500 --> 00:44:31,875
Surrounded by several combat-capable armed forces from abroad,

399
00:44:32,333 --> 00:44:39,083
Here women are building a new ecological one on their own responsibility
a new, ecologically oriented residential community.

400
00:44:44,083 --> 00:44:48,458
It was Zilan's fondest wish
to visit this collective directly on site,

401
00:44:48,791 --> 00:44:51,166
to learn from him and be inspired.

402
00:44:57,875 --> 00:45:00,750
Completely unexpected, but not without long preparation,

403
00:45:01,125 --> 00:45:03,416
although a visit initially seemed impossible,

404
00:45:03,583 --> 00:45:06,041
Weeks later I was able to visit her there.

405
00:45:07,666 --> 00:45:10,583
'Jinwar' means 'village of women' in Kurdish.

406
00:45:11,708 --> 00:45:17,166
It's an ecological, feminist village in
north-east Syria, built during a war.

407
00:45:17,166 --> 00:45:24,000
The Americans are here, the Russians, the Turks, the Assad regime.
We are in the middle of danger.

408
00:45:24,666 --> 00:45:28,458
I will never experience this new and very unpleasant feeling
forgotten in my stomach

409
00:45:28,875 --> 00:45:34,291
to experience the danger of war up close - which is everyday life here.

410
00:45:41,125 --> 00:45:48,375
I am amazed the people living there do not show fear,
but self-confidence. They remain relaxed.

411
00:45:48,791 --> 00:45:51,375
These women do not wear uniforms or carry guns.

412
00:45:51,375 --> 00:45:59,041
The desire for freedom and one's own land
is mightier than any piece of metal.

413
00:45:59,500 --> 00:46:04,333
The resistance in their eyes gave me courage.

414
00:46:07,833 --> 00:46:10,666
Men are also welcome. They can contribute too.

415
00:46:10,833 --> 00:46:18,083
In Jinwar, emancipation does not mean that
men and women must be separated and live in isolation.

416
00:46:18,291 --> 00:46:21,583
It is a question of society and community.

417
00:46:21,916 --> 00:46:26,625
The message should spread from a safe place to society at large.

418
00:46:26,625 --> 00:46:30,291
This is how you can really shout: 'Women, life, freedom'

419
00:46:30,291 --> 00:46:37,083
As women, we have to create a space for
'women, life, freedom' before we can shout it.

420
00:46:40,666 --> 00:46:46,208
How Sakina would have liked to travel home to Kurdistan with Zilan,
but that wasn't possible for her.

421
00:46:47,541 --> 00:46:51,833
On the last day of our ten day hike in Armenia
I understood the following:

422
00:46:52,166 --> 00:46:54,916
The beauty of Kurdistan is more than just nostalgia,

423
00:46:55,500 --> 00:47:00,583
for Sakina it is like a closed window
through which she can only see from the outside.

424
00:47:01,208 --> 00:47:05,416
Back in Europe, I asked her about her conclusion and her life impulse.

425
00:47:06,791 --> 00:47:12,000
Unfortunately, for the Kurds, there is still
no other way than to fight with weapons.

426
00:47:12,500 --> 00:47:16,541
There is no readiness for a political solution.

427
00:47:17,500 --> 00:47:28,000
There came a point when I had to decide:
only political work without art

428
00:47:28,916 --> 00:47:35,458
or to go my own way with art and music.

429
00:47:36,041 --> 00:47:42,958
My decision to make music cost so much,
so music has to be made.

430
00:47:54,875 --> 00:48:04,833
'FAVOURITE': Traditional Kurdish love song about the longing heart.

431
00:48:17,708 --> 00:48:22,083
When I spoke to Zilan in advance about her trip
to Kurdistan, her homeland, spoke

432
00:48:22,250 --> 00:48:28,250
She had the desire to create a kind of ritual for herself
to reconcile the different phases of their lives.

433
00:48:42,500 --> 00:48:50,208
I could not say goodbye to the mountains.
I made a decision and left immediately.

434
00:48:50,708 --> 00:49:01,875
And it bothered me. I was doing well, I was studying
I was politically active. But something was missing.

435
00:49:04,250 --> 00:49:09,125
She still had her old uniform and wished
to carry her back into the mountains she had once left behind.

436
00:49:09,666 --> 00:49:12,958
And then leave them there after a transformation process.

437
00:49:14,291 --> 00:49:23,541
It's very dangerous to be in a guerrilla uniform here.
We could be arrested if someone saw us.

438
00:49:23,916 --> 00:49:27,500
You do not wear a uniform, you wear your own history.

439
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:39,500
I could feel my whole life coming up,
what we did in the mountains, which friends I made...and lost.

440
00:49:40,708 --> 00:49:46,625
And what I do now. I wore my story, a film so to speak.

441
00:49:47,250 --> 00:49:50,583
And it gave me closure.

442
00:49:51,666 --> 00:49:57,166
In a carefully selected, secluded location
Zilan carried out their planned ritual.

443
00:49:57,708 --> 00:49:58,500
This is me.

444
00:49:59,333 --> 00:50:01,250
This is my story.

445
00:50:01,250 --> 00:50:03,875
I am proud of it, I have no regrets.

446
00:50:04,541 --> 00:50:06,166
It gives me lots of strength.

447
00:50:06,916 --> 00:50:09,916
I am no longer looking for a mother figure anymore,
because I am a mother myself now.

448
00:50:10,416 --> 00:50:17,875
Now I have commitments to friends and comrades,
that I carry within me...and a child.

449
00:50:18,958 --> 00:50:24,833
In addition to her old uniform, she also brought the scarf
Brought a scarf that Sakina had given her on her behalf.

450
00:50:55,666 --> 00:51:04,000
During this experience, she unexpectedly felt something different
as she had prepared deep down for this ritual.

451
00:51:09,125 --> 00:51:10,500
Now I feel lonely...

452
00:51:19,458 --> 00:51:20,583
as if all my...

453
00:51:22,500 --> 00:51:24,541
comrades were with me...

454
00:51:28,291 --> 00:51:29,708
that I lost...

455
00:51:32,125 --> 00:51:36,958
It seemed unnecessary to leave everything behind,
to end her story here.

456
00:51:39,208 --> 00:51:44,625
The pain of so many people, who were in the mountains,

457
00:51:46,583 --> 00:51:49,166
I gave it to the wind. They are everywhere now.

458
00:51:50,416 --> 00:51:53,416
And now I feel lighter. The pain is gone.

459
00:51:58,875 --> 00:52:00,166
The wind heals.

460
00:52:00,166 --> 00:52:02,375
Sakina, I brought you here with me.

461
00:52:03,833 --> 00:52:08,833
She feels it. I know it. I know her.
She feels it strongly.