It has been 3 years since Jineolojî Research Centre member and journalist Nagihan Akarsel was assassinated in Silêmaniye, Federated Kurdistan Region, on 4 October 2022, but the murderers have not yet been tried. Only a few days after the assassination, Turkey's Ambassador to Iraq Ali Rıza Güney made a press statement in which the assassination was confessed, but the behind-the-scenes were left in the dark.

 

Nagihan Akarsel was born in 1977 in Gölyazı neighbourhood of Konya's Cihanbeyli district, where Kurds were forcibly displaced from their lands and she was imprisoned between 2001 and 2007 after she met the freedom struggle. After her release, Nagihan Akarsel worked at the Dicle News Agency (DİHA) and carried out important work in the development of women's journalism. Nagihan Akarsel was involved in Free Press activities between 2008-2014. She later took part in Jineolojî studies. Tracing the lost history of women, Nagihan Akarsel pursued the truth and wrote the facts. Nagihan Akarsel, one of the architects of the Jinwar Village established on 25 November 2018 in North and East Syria, traced women's symbols in Afrin and started a library for women's memory in the Federated Kurdistan Region. She has been working in Rojava, where she lived for many years, from Afrin to Qamişlo, from Dirbêsiyê to Minbiç, left deep traces of life on every woman she touched.

 

One of her students, Şêrîn Hesen, Vice President of the Women's Assembly of the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) and a member of the Middle East Jineolojî Academy, talked about the process of meeting Nagihan Akarsel and how she touched her life. 

 

Şêrîn Hesen stated that she met Nagihan Akarsel in Afrin in 2017 when she was working under the umbrella of Kongra Star, and described Nagihan Akarsel's work in the 5-file "Efrin through the lens of Jineolojî" published in Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) on 21 February 2018, she explained the process she reported on as follows: "Nagihan came to Efrîn for the first time. Then we travelled around Efrîn together. Nagihan said that she wanted to get to know Efrîn and the history of the city. She was asking us questions such as 'What does the word Efrîn mean?' and 'What is its history?' She was looking for answers to these questions in the places she visited and saw. We had never asked Nagihan these questions before. She wanted to find answers to her questions and wanted to get to know historical and sacred places. Her excitement also surrounded us. She was in high spirits. This is how we recognised her."

 

Şêrîn Hesen said that he left a mark wherever she passed with her approach to people and her willpower, "She was a person who gave morale, love and strength to those around her. She was a person who could convey love to both society and nature. She showed us how to return to our self and how we can have willpower. She showed us how to answer the questions 'Who am I?', 'What am I?' and 'What happened to me?' together." 

 

LEARNT JINEOLOJI FROM NAGIHAN 

 

Stating that Nagihan Akarsel analysed the relationship between "nature and woman" in her Jineolojî studies, Şêrîn Hesen pointed out that she had a great impact on the women of Afrin with her stance that led women to search and question. Stating that Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's emphasis on Jineolojî has an important place in Nagihan's life, Şêrîn Hesen said: "We had started to read Jineolojî after Leader Apo's call. However, in reality, we did not understand this science sufficiently. Nagihan's arrival here was an important step in eliminating this deficiency. Nagihan was not only giving lectures, she was explaining everything word by word. Her first lecture was on the woman-life context. These lessons led us to our own self, we started to make sense of ourselves and our history." 

 

TOLD HISTORY TO THE PEOPLE OF AFRIN 

 

Şêrîn Hesen said that they encountered the real face of positivist science in the Jineolojî lessons given by Nagihan Akarsel and expressed that they realised the reality of mechanisation of human beings through these lessons. "Nagihan taught us a lot. Moreover, she had not been here for that long. We went to a square in Afrin. She looked at the square, the nature and the mountains of Efrîn and asked, 'Do you know how much Efrîn resisted? Do you know how much the people here, this geography resisted? We did not know the answer to this question, but he did. He got angry with us, saying, 'One cannot stay in such a geography, surrounded by mountains, with a stream on one side and olive trees all around, and not see this labour...'. She told us how olive trees are grown with great labour. Nagihan was the first to tell us that Afrin was a city built by women," she said.  

 

'TARGETED BY THE MALE STATE'

 

Underlining that her death deeply affected all women who learnt lessons from her, Şêrîn Hesen said that it was no coincidence that she was targeted. Pointing out that Nagihan Akarsel was the target of the male state, Şêrîn Hesen concluded: "MIT agents in Turkey and Federated Kurdistan targeted Nagihan. Nagihan was a woman who knew women's history, who was resistant and impressive. It is up to us to enlarge and continue her legacy. Nagihan made great sacrifices and labour to reveal women's history and science. She made great efforts for gynecology. In order to be worthy of her, we must follow her path. Growing her work will be to commemorate her."

 

MA / Ceylan Sahinli