Conclusion

Summary

I met Mizgîn on a warm spring afternoon in a refugee camp in Switzerland. Mizgîn had been a member of the PKK for twenty-four years, spending her last years in the party as a top KCK commander. In spring 2017, she left the party and fled to Europe. A mutual friend and fellow former commander had arranged our meeting, and over many cigarettes and cups of tea, we told each other our stories, discussed the state of the world, and the women’s questions that not only plague the four parts of Kurdistan. With great sadness in her eyes and many deep sighs, Mizgîn told me about how she joined the party as a teenager, her time spent in Syria with Öcalan, her many years of struggle, her increasing doubts, and that seeing how things were run at the very top, particularly in relation to the urban wars in 2015–2016, finally gave her the impetus to leave. At a different table on the terrace another asylum seeker was playing sad PKK revolutionary songs on his baglama.¹ Mizgîn nodded in his direction and indicated that we should keep our voices down.