Zaza Yado was a Kurdish fighter who defied both the Ottomans and the Turkish Republic.
Zaza Yado (Yadin Pasha) lived as a fugitive during the final years of the Ottoman Empire and the early years of the Republic of Turkey. He was a Kurdish fighter that neither regime could capture. For him, only the names of the states changed; the oppression remained the same, as did his resistance. He never considered surrender. He accepted no pardon, and he never came down from the mountains. Step by step, he walked, fought, lived, and died for the freedom of a people.
The name Zaza Yado—also known as Yadoyê Dimilî—became legendary on people’s tongues and has lived on in the collective memory as a hero who fought for freedom. More than a leader, he has been remembered as the embodiment of rebellion, resistance, and struggle. With every act, he symbolized a people’s yearning for liberation and never surrendered throughout his life. His name became synonymous with courage, resilience, and unwavering loyalty to his people. Even in the harshest conditions, he was a beacon of hope for resistance. He has always been remembered as a powerful fighter and a spirit of relentless defiance.
Zaza Yado was born in the village of Zikte, in the district of Darahênê in Çapakçur during the Ottoman era. His family settled in Çapakçur (Çewlîg–Bingöl) before the First World War. Growing up in the rebellious mountains of Bingöl, Yado learned the meaning of freedom and resistance from the mountains themselves. For him, the mountains were not only a battlefield but also a symbol of liberation. It was in these mountains that he took his first steps toward resistance, realizing that surrender had no place there.
In his youth, Yado briefly worked as a tax officer for the Ottoman state, but he soon sensed that his life was destined to follow a different path. When the First World War broke out, his spirit as a fighter and a resister awakened. The war made him realize there was a deeper dimension to the struggle for freedom that he was destined to embrace. Introduced to war, Yado was tempered like steel in fire, and before long, he became someone wholly devoted to fighting for his people in every sense. In the turmoil of the era, his name became known for bravery and combat. Yado came to see that there was no other path left to fight for his people—and in his life, there would be no room for weakness or retreat.
The 1925 uprising: Resistance in the mountains
The great Kurdish uprising led by Sheikh Said marked a new chapter in the life of Zaza Yado. From that point on, he was not only a fighter, but a symbol of resistance willing to give his life for his people. As the first sparks of rebellion ignited, he stood at the front lines. His fierce battles on the Elazig (Xarpêt) front tell the story of a man who carried the honor and hopes of an entire people on his shoulders. When the uprising was brutally crushed, Yado did not surrender—he did not lay down his arms. Though he retreated, he took refuge in the mountains, and from that moment forward, he was no longer simply a 'fugitive,' but a legend who had chosen to live for his people. The mountains became his fortress and his home. Every pass, every peak was turned into a battleground. Yado lived on in the words of his people—as a legend, and as the face of freedom.
Life in the mountains: warrior and resister
Zaza Yado’s name became inseparable from the mountains. With every step he took, he tried to make the voice of freedom heard. Beyond the act of fighting, he developed a will strong enough to overcome humanity’s deepest fears and pains. He lived his life on the edge of death, and in every moment, he grew larger in the name of his people’s freedom. His name turned into legend, passed from tongue to tongue. The courage he displayed pointed the way to freedom for future generations. In the mountains, Yado’s name echoed even through the darkest nights—because he was not only a fighter, but the very heart of resistance.
The unyielding ones: a journey to beyond the border
For years, Zaza Yado lived as a fugitive across the rugged mountains of Bingöl, from the Black Hell Forests to Metan, from Palo to Licê (Diyarbakır), and through the ranges of Darahênê and Erzurum. After the uprising was crushed, the burning of rural areas, the Turkish army’s push to assert control over Kurdistan, and the increase in forced exiles narrowed the space for resistance. For Yado, not only the mountains but even the skies had become threatened.
By 1927, Zaza Yado and other Kurdish resisters, along with their families, embarked on a long and deadly journey toward Binxetê—beyond the border. This was not merely a journey across thousands of kilometers, but a life-and-death struggle in which they faced bombs from warplanes and bullets from machine guns—a struggle of an unyielding people refusing to surrender. Men and women, children and elders alike, moved forward step by step, paying a heavy price at every turn. At one point, Yado and his comrades shot down a warplane over Karacadağ, leaving an unforgettable mark on both the sky and history. Their resistance not only became a symbol of the Kurdish struggle for freedom—it carved out a lasting vein of defiance.
When they finally reached Syria after long battles and a harsh journey, French authorities demanded they surrender their weapons. Yado refused, stating firmly: “We are defending the cause of a nation. If we gave up our weapons, it would mean surrendering to the Turkish state—and we would never have come this far for that.”
Political engagement and Xoybûn
Yado established close ties with prominent Kurdish political figures and resistance fighters who had crossed into Syria after the Sheikh Said uprising. He took part in discussions focused on new strategies and played an active role in the decisions regarding a possible return to the homeland. He also participated in the founding meeting of Xoybûn and contributed significantly to key decisions taken there. His role was not limited to armed struggle—he also firmly took his place in the realm of political resistance.
Return to the north and renewed resistance
After some time, Yado and many other resisters decided to return once again to Northern Kurdistan. Coming back from Binxetê, he made his way to the mountains of Bingöl (Çewlîg) and Diyarbakır (Amed), this time with his son Çerkez by his side. It was a period of renewed organizing and hardship. Yado consistently rejected offers of amnesty and never abandoned the path of resistance.
Zaza Yado’s final resistance and his wife Têlî Xanim
In the second phase of his life as a fugitive, Yado married Têlî Xanim. She was not only a companion on his path, but also his partner in arms and in life. Their son, Çerkez, was brutally murdered by soldiers and militias. Together with Têlî Xanim, Yado took part in dozens of clashes. He lost many comrades, but he never surrendered. He rejected all offers from the state—including promises of money and amnesty.
The death of Têlî Xanim and Zaza Yado’s final struggle
In 1936, during a clash with collaborators in the village of Ulyan in the Darahênê region, Têlî Xanim was severely wounded. At a time when the number of collaborator militias was increasing, the injured Têlî Xanim, not wanting to fall into the hands of soldiers and collaborators, asked Yado to end her life. But Yado, unable to bring himself to do it out of love for her, refused to fulfill her request. Têlî Xanim took her last breath in the Selince area. The villagers buried her where she fell. That place would later be known as “Têlî’s grave” (Tirbê Têlî).
Yado’s final battle and death
After the death of Têlî Xanim, Yado continued his resistance in the mountains and took part in new clashes. In one of these confrontations, he was severely wounded in both legs, yet he fought back with his last bullet. When his lifeless body was seized, collaborator militias and soldiers decapitated him and displayed his head in Darahênê and Çapakçur (Bingöl). However, the people refused to believe it. Saying, “That is not Yado,” they rejected the idea of his death, unwilling to give the enemy the satisfaction of victory. Not even the public display of his severed head could make them believe it. Although villagers buried his body, the location of his grave remained a secret for many years. In this way, Yado became an immortal legend of resistance—etched into memory as one of the enduring symbols of the Kurdish freedom struggle[1].