Letter of condolence for Dr. Lêgerîn Çiya / Alîna Sanchez

Dear friends, comrades in arms and family members,

The ICOR¹ is greatly pained to learn that Hevala Lêgerîn Çiya (Alîna Sanchez) born in 1986, lost her life on 17 March 2018 in a car accident in Heseke (Rojava). She was on her way to a meeting with an international health organization.

On behalf of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC) of ICOR I express heartfelt condolences to her family, her friends and comrades in arms.

Alîna Sanchez was born in Argentina and in the course of her life developed into a great internationalist. She lived and fought since 2011 first in North Kurdistan and then in Rojava. As YPJ member she fought against Daesh/“IS” in Deir Ez Zor, went to Kobane and then to Afrin to defend the revolution in Rojava and build the new life. She never hesitated to stand on the front line. She saved the lives of many wounded persons.

She studied medicine in Cuba and dedicated all her knowledge, courage and determination to the Kurdish liberation struggle. After some time in the mountains she returned to Cuba to complete the last year of her medical studies.

During this time she never tired of making known in Latin America the struggle for freedom, the cause of the Kurds, especially the liberation of Kurdish women. She was one of the first ambassadors and organizers in Latin America for the struggles in North and West Kurdistan.

The ICOR came in contact with her only during the last months of her life. As member of the Kobane Health Center, Lêgerîn Çiya conducted a lively correspondence with ICOR to complete the health center (built by seven ICOR brigades in Kobane in 2015) by adding a solar system. After a few months in which contact was interrupted she became a reliable partner and motor of the purposeful planning of the photovoltaic pilot project at the health center. In 2016/17 this important plan to give the health center energy independence could not be completed for the time being because of massive repression by the Turkish state. Through her work, important foundations were laid for the speedy realization of the project. She maintained regular, cordial contact by letter with me, as Main Coordinator of ICOR, and with the people responsible for the Ecological Initiative.

The entire Kurdish movement in the Middle East and Europe pays tribute to Hevala Lêgerîn Çiya in numerous contributions. Her comrades in arms describe her as cheerful, patient, intrepid and filled with deep conviction in the liberation of humanity. She was modest and disciplined. In Latin America, too, many obituaries keep the memory of the life and struggle of Alîna Sanchez alive.

The ICOR is proud and glad to have gotten to know her in this important collaboration. We would so much like to have met her personally! Her death is a great loss also for the international revolutionary movement.

At the same time we transform our sorrow into energy and determination to act still more resolutely in the spirit of the decisions of the Third World Conference of ICOR: “The solidarity pact develops international solidarity with the struggle of the Kurdish people for national and social liberation, and links it with the international revolutionary and working-class movement.” This decision already experienced a globally significant climax in the international day of action of ICOR and ILPS on 21 March 2018, “Afrin will live!”

Monika Gärtner-Engel

Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 27 March 2018