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Along Iraq-Turkey Border, Kurdish Guerrillas Remain Resolute
Iraqi Kurdish security forces occupy offices of the Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party, aligned with the PKK, in Irbil.
(By Sudarsan Raghavan -- The Washington Post)
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When new recruits arrive, they take lessons in Kurdish history and read Ocalan's treatises on politics, history, philosophy and the environment, many written in prison. They learn to call him "Apo," the Kurdish word for uncle.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Recruits are encouraged to inform on each other if they spot a breach of Ocalan's principles. "We teach new recruits all about Abdullah Ocalan; then only, we gave them a gun," said the PKK commander near Sharanish.
He joined in 1990, when he was still in high school. Since then, he has not seen his parents or brothers, he said. "My PKK brothers will protect me more than my real ones," said the commander, short and stocky and wearing an Ocalan pin on the left side of his chest.
He said he had "thousands of mothers" amongst the Kurdish people. Following the PKK's codes, he never wed. "We are married to the land," he explained.
Jehangir said, "If you join the PKK, you have to leave your wife, not divorce her. Your relationship with her will be friendship, not husband and wife."
In Ranj Prakh, the fighters wore similar olive vests and traditional Kurdish baggy pants -- including the women, who typically don't wear such clothing.
There appeared to be as many female fighters as male. They shared duties -- cooking, washing, standing guard. When it was time to head into Turkey on a mission, the women joined the men. The women shook hands with male visitors, a taboo in many Middle Eastern societies, and refused to have their cigarettes lit for them by men, viewing it as a gesture of subordination.
In this valley, deer abound. But the guerrillas do not hunt them, on grounds they must protect nature. Nor are they allowed to pick fruit from a tree unless it is completely ripe. They may drink milk and eat eggs, and some of the fighters admitted they have killed and eaten chickens. Now, Jehangir said, a campaign is underway to get fighters to quit smoking, deeming it unhealthy to nature and man.
"A human being is part of the universe, so a human being is not allowed to damage the environment," Jehangir said. "The PKK believes there should be no difference between human beings and animals. Nobody is higher than the other."
When asked how a PKK fighter then can justify killing Turkish soldiers, Jehangir replied that the guerrillas can kill if it is in self-defense. "The life I have just described is a beautiful life," he continued, his voice filling with pride.
Correspondents Joshua Partlow in Baghdad, Molly Moore in Paris and Nora Boustany in Washington and special correspondents Dlovan Brwari and Zaid Sabah in northern Iraq contributed to this report.
