#Helîm Yûsiv# said that writing is essential to life and stresses that Kurds must be able to write in their own language.
One of the leading figures of modern Kurdish literature, Helîm Yûsiv, who is originally from Amûdê, met with university students and literature enthusiasts during a visit to Rojava.
Despite living in Germany, Yûsiv has never severed his ties with his homeland. Following the Rojava Revolution, he visited the region on multiple occasions. His most recent program brought him together with readers along a route stretching from Dêrik to Kobanê.
The Amûdê-born writer held discussions with students at Kobanê University, then took part in the Kobanê Literature Festival, where he signed his books and spoke on panels. Throughout these events, Yûsiv shared his reflections on the Kurdish language, literature, and the Kurdish people’s history of struggle, becoming a source of inspiration for younger generations.
Helîm Yûsiv spoke about the language ban he encountered during childhood in the following words:“When I went to school, a different language was being spoken. I did not know that my own language was forbidden, because my mother and father spoke only Kurdish. As a result, many unanswered questions formed in my mind.”
During his youth, Yûsiv faced pressure from the Syrian regime due to his books. After his works were repeatedly banned and his family subjected to intimidation, he was forced to settle in Germany in the early 2000s. Now living in Germany, the writer continues to closely follow the Kurdish people’s resistance and cultural awakening during his visits to Rojava.
More than fifteen books by Helîm Yûsiv have been published to date. His principal works include Mêrê Avis, Wehşê di Hundirê min de, 99 Morikên Belavbûyî, Auslandir Beg, Gava ku Masî tî dibe, Tirsa Bê Diran, Memê bê Zîn, Sobarto, Mirî Ranazin, Jinên Qatên Bilind, Firîna bi Baskên Şikestî, Serdema Qazîmazî, Romana Kurdî, Komara Dînan, and Neviyê Tozê.
Yûsiv spoke to ANF about his journey as a writer and reflected on how his relationship with writing began at an early age: “My relationship with writing started when I was very young. My childhood passed along the border, mines, soldiers, barbed wire. At night, when people slept on the rooftops in Amûdê, the lights of Mardin could be seen very clearly. I always thought they were stars. Only later did I realize they were not stars at all, but a city. My father’s family comes from Northern Kurdistan, and there was a border between us that could not be crossed. When I started school, like all Kurdish children, my teacher spoke a language different from the one my mother and father used at home. Those seven years of alienation at school created many questions in my mind. It was then that I understood my language was forbidden, it was not official and not the language of the school. Throughout my childhood, I searched for answers to these questions. No one told us that this country was divided or that our language had been banned. I moved among questions, searching for their answers, and that is how I turned to reading. When I wrote down my feelings, I felt relief. I never imagined I would become a writer or that my books would be published. But writing made me feel better; writing is like oxygen to me.”
In a decision he took in 1996, Helîm Yûsiv began writing all his works exclusively in Kurdish. He underlined the importance of Kurdish-language literature and said: “If an English person writes in English and a Turk writes in Turkish, then we Kurds can also write in our own language.”
Blending Kurdish life, the subconscious, dreams, and realism in his works, Yûsiv wrote his most recent book as a novel shaped by personal memories. Yûsiv also directed a message to the younger generation: “I hope that this generation, which reads and writes in its own language, trusts both its language and itself. If we do something in Kurdish, doing it in another language does not serve Kurdishness.” [1]