Mizgîn Hesekê from the Arab community of Hesekê was such influenced by the legendary female martyrs Mizgîn and Bêrîtan, that she finally decided to join the very ranks of the guerrillas.

Mizgîn Hesekê told her story for ANF:

"I am originally from the city of Hesekê. I am from the Arab community. What influenced me the most in the PKK were the martyrs comrade Bêrîtan and comrade Mizgîn, that finally had me join the ranks. Each time I heard their names, I told myself 'I have to join them'. I came and joined the ranks for this reason.

After my participation, which is a first in my family, what left the biggest impact on me within the PKK was the spirit of their comradeship. And what I clinged most to was the strength of this comradeship. For this reason I always tried hard to progress; to develop within the PKK and also to offer great results.

Within the Arab community violence against women and their resignation are grave. But because my family lived with Kurds, they adopted also the Kurdish culture.

Within their own society, an Arab woman is viewed in fact very worthless. When I was still at home, comrade Rüstem taught me some of the Kurdish language. After joining the guerrilla I improved my Kurdish skills a lot. The years before I never spoke a word Kurdish, but in the mountains I quickly became fluent.

Generally speaking there are only very few Arabs who joined the guerrilla. It is because women can simply not act on their own will within their community and this is why there are not so many here. But there has been witnessed an immense number of Arabs joining the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) lately. In particular the Battle of Kobanê left such an impact that Arabs began to join the struggle as the war came also to their lands."

Mizgîn Hesekê called on Arab youths to join the guerrilla ranks, stressing that emancipation of women can only be possible through the PKK.