Nagihan was an embodiment of women’s consciousness
Nagihan Akarsel (Zîlan) was born in 1976 in the town of Gölyazı in Cihanbeyli district of Konya, North Kurdistan. The Kurdish name of the village is Xelîkan. It is a Kurdish village, of people who call themselves “Kurmanc”. Here it is considered a sin to get up after sunrise. Water is never poured on ashes. Nagihan later researched the source of these traditions. Even though it is a Hanafi village, she established a connection with Yazidism and Alevism; she traced her village back to the Malatya-Dersim region. She attributed her love for Dersim and Shengal to this.
Nagihan spent her childhood in the village. The land is steppes and there are plenty of wheat fields. Wheat is very precious. To spill the grains on the ground is like drawing blood. Nagihan never forgot the moments when she and the children in the village would play barefoot after the rain to smell the earth, then go and dive into the bulgur wheat or when all the cousins would gather at her great uncle’s house. She never forgot the taste of her childhood memories. She pursued women’s stories even as a child. She developed a relationship with her father based on friendship. As much as she was attached to her culture, she insisted on rejecting patriarchal norms.
She attended primary, middle and high school in the village. She was very studious at school. She took university exams at an exceptionally young age. This was the first time she left the village, supported by her father. She studied press and broadcasting at Gazi University in Ankara. She took part in the YCK (Kurdistan’s Youth Union) activities. She was always positive, cheerful and a seeker. When she first entered university, she was repelled by the coldness and materialism of city life, and turned her face towards environments where she would find communal life and friendship. This also influenced her to start working for the YCK. She loved journalism, but she never thought of taking a place in the mainstream and was completely oriented towards the struggle. As she got to know the struggle of her people, her consciousness expanded from Xelîkan to Kurdistan, and from Kurdistan to the universe. She lived the love for her country very deeply. For this reason, she shaped her world around the understandings and perspectives of Abdullah Öcalan’s truth.
Imprisoned for her political activity
Between 2001 and 2007, she was imprisoned for her political activity at universities. After her release from prison, she worked as an editor and reporter at the Dicle News Agency between 2008 and 2014. During this period, she also followed the lectures of Hacettepe University Women’s Studies Department in order to deepen her understanding of women’s liberation. She took part in the establishment of the first women’s press agency, JINHA. For years, she worked as a reporter in the Kurdish press, chasing news. She was a hard worker, a teacher, a friend and comrade in the development of Kurdish women’s journalism. She radiated warmth and brought people in. She didn`t limit herself to Kurdistan, developing communication and friendship with women from different communities.
She took part in the work of the Jineolojî Academy
She answered the call of Jineolojî, to which Abdullah Öcalan attaches great importance, at the highest level in both its academic and institutional dimensions. When the process of institutionalization of Jineolojî began, she took part in the work of the Jineolojî Academy. She worked hard during the establishment of the Jineolojî journal. She not only served as a member of the editorial board of the journal, but also constantly fed it with her articles. She never stopped knocking on new doors to transform the Jineolojî magazine into a women’s freedom platform.
She conducted research and educational activities in many areas of Bakur, Bashur and Rojava (North, South and West Kurdistan). She educated thousands of people and wrote for many newspapers and magazines. Everywhere she went, she was a beacon of light, especially for young people. Children and mothers moved close to her. After 2018, she continued her sociological studies in Afrin and Shengal, to be published in a book. As someone in love with the culture of Hewreman and the resistance culture of Rojhilati (Eastern Kurdistan) women, she continued her research in this field, but she always felt a loss at not being able to go to Rojhilat Kurdistan.
From 2019 until the date of her assassination, she worked tirelessly for the development of Jineolojî studies in Bashur, South Kurdistan. Although she had only just learned the Sorani dialect, she gave dozens of courses and seminars on Jineolojî in Bashur, and organized Jineolojî camps with young people.
Her last two years
For the last two years, she worked with great enthusiasm to consolidate the values, oral culture and knowledge of Kurdish women, and to create an organization that can pioneer women’s enlightenment. To this end, she worked patiently, like digging a well with a needle, to establish the Kurdish Women’s Library, Archive and Research Center. Despite all the obstacles and difficulties, she walked with the belief that the Bashur revolution would be a women’s revolution, and she never lost hope.
On top of all these works, her greatest longing was to complete her account of the process of encountering the truth of Abdullah Öcalan, which she turned into a draft of a novel, but she passed away before she could complete it.
She continued her search for wisdom, faith and emotion throughout her life. Her emotions and consciousness shone wherever she went, lit up what she touched. Her ability to synthesize her feelings and ideas and put them into language was incredible. The wisdom filtered through the history of women was present in every moment of her life. This wisdom is a wisdom that rejects male domination, defends the essence of women and society, and uplifts ecological consciousness. With this wisdom and search for truth, she was a warrior of the sacred, standing against the conspirators of history, male domination, genocide and occupation.
The seeds of emotion and meaning she left will grow and the truth of JIN JIYAN AZADÎ will spread everywhere. This attack is an attack on the rising women’s struggle and the defence of freedom. This attack is a revenge against women who have selflessly given themselves to struggle. Nagihan was the light, consciousness, hope and beauty of women. To embrace her spirit is to embrace beauty, goodness and freedom. Her connection to mulberry trees was as strong as her connection to her childhood longings. Nagihan’s life energy and love of life will continue to guide us all as she chose the building where the Kurdish Women’s Library, Archive and Research Center will be located, not by admiring the inside, but by admiring the mulberry tree in its garden. We will follow her aspirations and dreams. We will not leave her struggle unfinished.