My worldly life has come to an end. I have no regrets about sacrificing myself for my nation. It is enough for us that our grandchildren will not feel ashamed of us in the future.

The Kurds are stepping onto the stage of world history. In northern Iraq, they are well on their way to an independent state and in Syria they are successfully fighting for federal rights. In Turkey, the Kurds are pushing for democratization.

At the heart of Kurdish life, women hold a place of honor and dominance. Their words are regarded as more valid and trustworthy than men's, positioning them not only as the creators of life but as life itself. This deep-rooted reality in Kurdish society has also shaped the Yazdati religion, where women embody the very essence of honor and pride.

Friend don't weep, the mountains has always been
the place of the strong and brave
The wall of Kurdish independence
arisen from the bodies of the mighty

The Kurdish question necessarily influences most of the region. A solution in one part of Kurdistan also affects other parts of Kurdistan and neighboring countries.

I still remember when they asked us at school:
What is the product of two and two?
Everyone shouted—four.

 

But my math grades were always poor
because to me, two and two were never four—
they were always one.

 

In my opinion…
Teeth, lips, and tongue do not make four,
but one language that calls for rights.
Two arms, two legs do not work as four,
but as one body moving as one.
A neighborhood, a house, an alley, a street—
they do not form four,
but one city, where the rich and poor live together.
Trunk, root, limb, and leaf are not four,
but one tree—some short, some tall, like the mighty Chnar.
Love, heart, beauty, and purity
do not make four beloveds, but one.

 

I could go on all evening,
listing how four becomes one,
too many to count.

 

But I know only this:
Cut me into a hundred pieces,
hang me, shoot me—
and still, from my lips, you will hear:

 

Kurdistan is one—
and will never be four.

In these moments, as I live through the final hours of my life, I implore you by the right of the love of Allah to cease hostility towards each other. Instead, be a support and a pillar for one another. Face your common oppressor hand in hand with a unified voice. Do not sell yourselves to the enemies without a price. The enemies of the Kurdish people are numerous, unjust, and treacherous, devoid of mercy.

In the past, the geostrategic position of Kurdistan had wetted appetites, which had made the country a pawn in the struggles over the distribution of resources, wars and state terror. This is still true today and goes back far into early history as Kurdistan had been exposed to attacks and raids by external powers at all times. The terror regimes of the Assyrian and Scythian Empires between 1000 and 1300 BC and the campaign of conquest by Alexander the Great are the best known examples. The Arab conquest was followed by the Islamization of Kurdistan. Much as Islam understands itself as a religion of peace, at its heart it has always been an ideology of conquest of the Arab nation, which was able to spread quickly in Kurdistan. Islam proceeded into the foothills of the Taurus and Zagros mountains. Tribes that put up resistance were exterminated. In 1000 AD Islam had hit its peak. Then, in the 13th and 14th centuries the Mongols invaded Kurdistan. Flight and displacement followed. After the battle of Chaldiran in 1514, which saw the Ottomans come off as victors, the natural eastern border of the empire was shifted further eastward. The treaty of Qasr-e Shirin officially established the Iranian and Turkish borders and concluded the partition of Kurdistan, which has continued into the present.

The Kurdish national society is very complex. Worldwide, the Kurds are the biggest nation without a state of their own.

If I could touch the wheel of fate,
I’d ask it things, both small and great:
"You’ve given one a hundred blessings,
And another, barley bread mixed with blood."

Erdogan wants a caliphate. We Kurds are in his way. Erdogan can't stop us politically, so he is denouncing us as terrorists.