Struggles for freedom shape history through courage and sacrifice. The legacy of Zîlan became a torch within the Kurdish Freedom Movement, and Halit Oral became one of its devoted followers. Born in 1971 in Mardin (Mêrdîn), he set his body on fire in Maras Prison in 1998 as part of the “You cannot darken our sun” protests. With deep devotion to President Öcalan, Halit Oral carried the spirit of freedom from Zap to Rojava, adding soul to the rebellion against colonialism and becoming an immortal symbol of resistance.

Halit Oral was born in 1971 in the district of Omerli in Mardin, into a poor but patriotic family shaped by feudal conditions. Due to the pressure of Turkish colonialism, his family migrated in 1978 to Çukurova, settling in the city of Iskenderun. Yet his longing for the mountains and lands of Kurdistan remained alive in his heart. He dedicated his life to the Kurdish Freedom Struggle and, on October 9, 1998, became the first to carry out a self-immolation protest under the slogan “You cannot darken our sun.” He began primary school in colonial schools in Iskenderun but dropped out in the first grade due to economic hardship and difficulty adjusting to the system. To contribute to the family’s survival, he worked in various jobs, but none of them brought him fulfillment.

In the letter he left to  President Öcalan, Halit Oral expressed that none of these roles satisfied him: “Although my family had known the party for a long time and especially had an influence on me in this regard, leaving the homeland at an early age and growing up under the heavy influence of metropolitan life and culture gave me a distorted consciousness. My personality was shaped accordingly. Because of material hardship and this distorted culture, I gradually became someone who no longer knew what to do. I began to see life only as a path toward gaining status, rising in society, and achieving power. This led me to search for something more. My assimilated personality grew more distant from the reality of my people and my homeland, and I was drawn into the lifestyle the enemy had prepared and presented to society. Under the influence of a corrupt social environment, I began to admire the deformed youth culture. Instead of loving my nation, people, and country, I valued family protectionism. I prioritized individual gain over the collective and began shaping my life around that. I would quickly tire of every job I took within the system.”

Decision to join the party ranks

Halit Oral described his inner search in the letter he left for President Öcalan: “...In both material terms and brute strength, I had achieved what I thought I wanted. By the end of 1992, I had grown tired of the environment I was in. Even though I believed I had reached everything, I still felt a deep emptiness inside. I was increasingly lonely. My family and relatives were patriotic, and because I was involved in things contrary to that, I began to be excluded by my family. The work I did and the way I behaved stood in stark contrast to my family’s values. As a result, my search for identity and personality began to develop in a distorted and alienated form. After 1992, the growth of the struggle and the rise of mass actions and uprisings (serhildans) in cities and metropoles deepened my interest in the party.

During this period, I began to get to know the party. But I couldn’t break away from the lifestyle I had been living for so long. I couldn’t make a clear rupture. I was indecisive and hesitant. At the same time, I started to see this life for what it was, a false, deceitful, alienating existence and I began to feel disgusted by it. I started searching for something new. (...) After talking with comrades, I began to see how fake my past life had been. I realized how rotten and soul-crushing it truly was. After discussions with comrades, especially one with a female comrade, I decided to leave my former life behind and dedicate myself to the party.”

In 1992, he joined the front-line activities and took his place in the ranks of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). He had no tolerance for defeat and carried out every task with the determination to complete it fully. His resolve to accomplish what others saw as impossible made him a source of trust among those around him. His loyalty to the party grew stronger with each passing day. In May 1994, he set out to meet with President Öcalan, but on May 4 he was captured. He called that day “the cursed day,” as it cost him the chance to meet with the President Öcalan. From the prison in Mersin, he was exiled first to Konya and then to the prison in Ermenek. In prison, he nourished himself with President Öcalan’s analyses, confronted his shortcomings, and waged a relentless struggle against tendencies outside the party. “I never reconciled with any mistake or weakness; I always confronted them head-on,” he said, preserving his identity as a resister.

Prison resistance: a commander of fire

In prison, Halit Oral took inspiration from President Öcalan’s words about Sema Yüce: “She fought.” With the goal of reaching President Öcalan, he filled every moment with struggle. For him, prison was a battlefield. Guided by the spirit of President Öcalan and the consciousness of the martyrs, he refused to fit into any mold. On his journey through fire, every cell of his body was filled with freedom and love. He became someone who transcended himself.

The launch of the international conspiracy against President Öcalan in 1998 shook Halit Oral deeply. The Turkish state's threats against Syria were, in his eyes, part of a broader plan targeting President Öcalan himself. In meetings, he said, “This is not just an attack on Syria, it is an attack on the President Öcalan,” underlining the severity of the threat. He saw the contacts of Barzani and Talabani with the United States and Ankara as direct components of this conspiracy. “Something must be done,” he insisted, and focused his entire being on this urgency. On October 8, during a discussion of the July 14 resistance featured in Independence (Serxwebûn), he raised two powerful lines: “Those who know how to live at the right time must also know how to die at the right time,” and “In the small person, the spirit dies before the body; in the great person, the body is shattered before the spirit.” He asked, “How should we understand this?” That question marked the moment of his final decision.

Self-sacrificial act: a barricade of fire for the sun

Halit Oral decided to build a barricade of fire against the conspiracy targeting President Öcalan. He planned the action with great care, completing his preparations without letting anyone notice. He even placed two stones in his lighter, calculating every small detail. At 03:00 a.m., in the night between October 8 and 9, he carried out his action in Maras Prison. Inspired by Mazlum Doğan’s resistance in Dormitory 35, he quietly returned to his cell, dressed in nylon clothing, and tightly tied the door shut with a rope. Then he picked up a can of cologne and set his body ablaze.

Flames surrounded him as he danced, chanting the slogans “Bîjî Serok Apo!” and “Bi can, bi xwîn em bi te re ne ey Serok!” (“Long live President Öcalan!” and “With our lives, with our blood, we are with you, Leader!”).  His comrades tried to force the door open, but Halit Oral stood firm. “Comrades, let me burn,” he shouted, determined to complete his action. Amid the flames, he raised a victory sign and smiled. When the door was finally opened, most of his body had already been burned, but he calmly lay on his bed with a spirit that was both defiant and composed.

As prison staff and soldiers arrived, he challenged them with a final victory sign and a smile, confronting their defeat with dignity and rebellion.

His legacy: immortality and resistance

Halit Oral’s action became the first spark of the “You cannot darken our sun” resistance. By setting his body on fire to foil the conspiracy against President Öcalan, he became part of a resistance that extended to comrades Ali Aydın, Bülent Bayram, Selamet Menteş, Aynur Artan, Mehmet Gül, and Mirza Sevimli. In the letter he wrote to President Öcalan, he declared, “My action may not force the Republic of Turkey (T.C.) to back down, but it will turn the world into a prison for them.” Like martyr Zîlan, he expressed his devotion by saying, “If only we had more to give than our lives.”

Halit Oral was a commander who carried both history and the future in his heart. As a militant of the sun and a pioneer of the barricade of fire, he became immortal in the struggle for freedom. His flame continues to burn in every corner of Kurdistan.