Bavê Teyar (Cûma Xelîl Îbrahîm), a theatre actor, was one of those killed in the attack carried out by Turkey and the affiliated Syrian National Army (SNA) against the Tishreen Dam on 18 January. Born in 1957 in Qamishlo, Cûma Xelîl Îbrahîm made significant contributions to Kurdish theatre for more than 30 years. Cûma Xelîl Îbrahîm, who often included patriotism, defence of the country, national unity and the struggle of the Kurdish people in his plays, founded the "Martyr Osman Theatre Group" in 1998 with a group of friends. 

 

 

Îsa Oso, a member of the group and starred in many short and long films of Cûma Xelîl Îbrahîm, spoke about Turkey's attacks and Cûma Xelîl Îbrahîm's struggle. 

 

Stating that the attacks of Turkey and the SNA against North and East Syria have increased in recent days, Îsa Oso said, "The attacks against the Tishreen Dam continue. After the fall of Baath regime, a vacuum was created. Every state with plans in the region wanted to fill this vacuum in their favour. Turkey was the state that wanted the biggest share from Syria. Why Turkey? Turkey still has Ottoman dreams. They have a dream of taking the peoples who were under the Ottoman rule back under their rule. For the sake of these aims, they want to make the lands they tore from Syria the territory of Turkey"

 

Pointing out that in parallel with the attacks carried out by Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on Damascus, Syria on 26 November 2024, Turkey and its affiliated SNA launched attacks on the cities of North and East Syria, Îsa Oso added, "Turkey aimed to occupy every place under the protection of the Autonomous Administration as a fait accompli. But they did not take into account such a great resistance. The resistance of the SDF shattered their dreams. It was the YPG and YPJ forces that resisted and won against ISIS for the first time. It was the Kurds and SDF who resisted against the darkness. There have been major attacks around the Tishreen Dam and Qara Qozak Bridge for days. War crimes are being committed during the attacks. Civilians are being targeted and bombed. Turkey is not committing war crimes for the first time. They could not break the will of the fighters resisting in Tishreen and Qara Qozak. There is a great resistance unrivalled in the pages of history." 

 

Îsa Oso reminded that the peoples' watch action against the attacks against the Tishreen Dam has been continuing since 8 January, and noted that the resistance given is unprecedented in the history of resistance in the world. 

 

"The people went to the conflict zone against the attacks without blinking an eye and have been standing behind their fighters for 26 days. The fighters guarding the dam today are the children of the peoples who stand guard. The families of these fighters are standing by their children at the risk of their own lives. The moral value of this is even greater than what is seen. This is what was meant when it was said that the Rojava Revolution is ‘the revolution of the peoples" he said. 

 

BAVÊ TEYAR

 

Îsa Oso said that Turkey and the SNA targeted civilians and that journalists, politicians and artists were deliberately murdered. Îsa Oso said, "Politicians organise the people and build a conscious society. Politicians are being targeted in order to take the lead in this construction. Artists, on the other hand, are targeted to destroy the culture of the people. The murder of Bavê Teyar caused pain to all of us. It left an indescribable pain not only for Kurds, but for everyone who saw, heard and knew his name. Bavê Teyar was not only from Qamishlo, Rojavan. He entered every home in four parts of Kurdistan with the films he made for 30 years. Those who fled persecution and had to go to Europe also saw themselves in his films and regained their patriotic consciousness. Bavê Teyar is an unbreakable pillar for Kurdish theatre. At a time when the Ba'ath regime did not allow even the names of children to be written in Kurdish, when the people were oppressed and intimidated in every aspect, he made theatre in Kurdish without fear. He made people laugh and raised awareness in a banned language. That is why everyone loved him."

 

Îsa Oso stated that Bavê Teyar acted naturally while playing his role and said, "Being natural integrated him with the society. Everyone loved him, but children loved him the most. Many children learnt Kurdish through his films. In every film, he focused on the problems of the society and gave messages based on their solution. He addressed the problems of mentality, morality and values in Kurdish society as a theme and endeavoured to make the people see the truth. The duty of the artist is not only to take the stage and play his role. The artist is responsible for addressing and finding solutions to the problems faced by the people both during his/her role and after leaving the stage. Bavê Teyar taught us this best. Bavê Teyar did not only show his art on the stage. He performed his art on the streets, at weddings, everywhere."

 

"Bavê Teyar was a revolutionary artist," said Îsa Oso and added, "He has been involved in the revolution since the early 1990s and remained loyal to the values he believed in. He did his best for everyone to have these values. He showed this in his last messages. He may be physically gone, but he lives on in the messages he left us. These messages will always guide us. We will live in line with the messages he gave us until the last drop of our blood. Many of our artists have been martyrs of the revolution in history. He claimed their memory. Bavê Teyar became a star guiding us. He promised the martyrs and kept his promise until the last moment. We have also promised him and we will keep our promise until the end."

 

MA / Emrullah Acar