In the depths of the mountains of Kurdistan, the sound of the dance of freedom rises. The fire of freedom, burning brightly on this land of humanity, carries all colors within itself. Those who circle around the fire are walkers of the same cause, travelers of the same path.

From the heights of the mountains of Kurdistan, the voices of the songs of the dance rise. With one voice, the song of the heart is sung for every struggle it longs for. This dance breaks through all borders and reaches the hearts of all who yearn for freedom. In their call, in their dance, and in their war, they defend the values of all humanity. Their call reaches all cliffs, all mountains, all lands, and spreads across the world.

The most beautiful daughters and sons of humanity, with deep devotion, respond to this call and join this dance. Thomas, the noble and socialist son of the German people, was also within this dance, circling the fire of freedom together with his comrades. The dance led by Thomas spread from Xakurkê, the paradise on earth, to the whole world.

In his face, hope and love were sheltered. With his own voice and color, he walked toward becoming socialist. He flowed toward the voice that echoed in his ears. For the first time, this voice would strike powerfully against the heart of an internationalist young person.

Thomas Johan Spies was a young man of search and inquiry, attentive to the freedom resistance of Kurdistan, and committed to the decision for a free and equal life. He was born in 1996 in Mainburg, Germany, and grew up in a family that took liberal movements as its basis. Although he grew up in a country dominated by capitalism, he never regarded this life as a true life in any way. For this reason, even at a young age, his thoughts and searches developed toward socialism.

With this youthful spirit, he was always engaged in research and questioning. His curiosity for life was very strong. For this reason, when Thomas was among student groups, he drew everyone’s attention. Because of his social relations, he became very influential within those student groups; in the same way, Thomas became the person most loved and most listened to. He also had deep interest in the revolutionaries who had become known and renowned in history.

For the first time, Thomas heard the name of another movement, and he would be influenced by this movement. When he read the books of Leader Apo, his reflections became greatly enriched, and his curiosity to know this movement developed into a powerful desire.

In this way, Thomas set out on the road of this curiosity and desire; he himself would decide how this journey would begin. While reading the books of Leader Apo, Thomas took his place within a socialist movement and was very active in actions and rallies. Yet when he realized that his strength could not remain limited to these activities, and as he came to know the ideas and thoughts of Leader Apo, he believed even more in his own strength and walked toward this revolutionary journey.

When Thomas was taking part in socialist groups in Germany, his search for the freedom and equality of peoples became deeper and more difficult. But he did not find his aim within those groups. Therefore, when he read Leader Apo, the philosophy of free life drew his attention greatly. In particular, when he heard Leader Apo’s assessment, “Insistence on socialism is insistence on humanity,” he began his search for freedom from this point and continued his march.

He made his decision for a free and equal life, and from here he began his long march. On this basis, in 2016 Thomas took his first step toward guerrilla life. With determination and a strong ideal, he turned his face toward the mountains of Kurdistan. His first station was the mountains of Qendîl.

Thomas acted with awareness of the ideas and philosophy of Leader Apo. This made him deeply trust the road he had chosen and confirmed that his decision was the right one. When Thomas joined the ranks of the freedom movement, he took the name Azad Şerger and began, within the ranks, the active practice of the struggle for socialism.

Azad Şerger, as an internationalist youth from German society, turned his face toward the free mountains in 2016 and raised his revolutionary struggle higher within the freedom movement. He received his basic training in the mountains of Qendîl and joined guerrilla practices there. For Azad, the mountain became a breath through which he could live freely and analyze his own personality and society.

Azad adapted very quickly to guerrilla life. As a socialist, he took living in the mountains as his basis. For this reason, guerrilla Azad developed himself very quickly in all branches of free life. First, he taught himself the dialects of the Kurdish language. In this way, guerrilla Azad’s dialogues among his comrades became very rich.

In order to gain experience in armed struggle, he requested to turn toward the guerrillas’ areas of resistance. After completing his training period at the Mazlum Doğan Academy, the internationalist guerrilla Azad turned his face toward the resistance area of Xakurkê. With his active participation, he took his place in Xakurkê among the mobile teams. By passing into the areas of resistance, which he had desired with great love, Azad quickly joined the practice of war and actions.

With the occupation attacks that began in 2021 in the Medya Defense Areas, Azad was always in the effort to deliver heavy blows against the occupiers within this practice. For this reason, as a modern guerrilla, he participated in many actions with highly effective tactics. He was very intelligent in scouting enemy forces and in mastering the terrain. Therefore, in the midst of the practice of war, he also became an example for his comrades.

Guerrilla Azad transferred to his comrades the developments he had built in his revolutionary qualities. His comrades, in turn, took as an example the developments that guerrilla Azad had created in himself. Both in the style and tactics of the new era, and with his honest character, he became an internationalist vanguard.

The internationalist guerrilla Azad had a democratic and socialist personality. He made the paradigm of Leader Apo the foundation of his life. For this reason, he always read the books of President Apo and took the personality of the vanguard militant as his basis. In a very short time, Azad took on the duties and responsibilities that the movement placed upon his shoulders and prepared himself for difficult practices. In this way, he turned into a commander of war and life.

The brave guerrilla Azad never made concessions from his military discipline. For this reason, he became a true vanguard of the line of the struggle for freedom. In the area of Xakurkê, guerrilla Azad approached all work, duties, and activities with a high spirit of responsibility. He transformed himself into a commander who was sensitive in his work, serious in organizational standards, and thus became an example of Apocu militancy.

The attacks and bombardments carried out by the enemies of the Kurdish people against the mountains of Kurdistan and against the guerrillas created great anger in the internationalist revolutionary Azad Şerger. The mountains of Kurdistan were being bombarded with great savagery. Therefore, the great revolutionary Azad Şerger was always in the effort to carry out effective actions against the enemies.

This determination and deepening of guerrilla Azad became ever deeper in his consciousness. In order to avenge his comrades who were resisting in the war tunnels, he was involved in the planning of a major action. In June 2023, guerrilla Azad Şerger, together with his two comrades Asya Kanîreş and Koçer Medya, carried out an effective action.

The enemy forces positioned on the Hill of Martyr Heqî and Martyr Kamuran would fall into the trap of these courageous heroes. When this action took place, the occupiers, unable to tell their left from their right, remained amid dust and smoke. In this action, 18 occupying soldiers were killed and their positions were destroyed.

Three steel-hearted guerrillas, three heroes of a weighty cause, entered among their bloodthirsty enemies and struck them at the very heart. The internationalist revolutionary Azad Şerger, together with his comrades, spread like lightning through the enemy trenches and carried out their action successfully. After the action of these three heroes, the Turkish army attacked the area with all the technology in its possession. As if they had gone mad and rabid, they bombarded everywhere.

While guerrilla and revolutionary Azad Şerger, together with his two comrades, were in withdrawal, they encountered an attack by the Turkish army. As a result of the bombardment, they joined the caravan of the immortals of the freedom struggle of the peoples and Kurdistan. The wise internationalist Azad Şerger and Asya Kanîreş, together with their comrade Koçer Medya from Eastern Kurdistan, reached martyrdom on 15 June 2023.

However heavy the martyrdom of these heroes was, their action placed its seal upon the era, and their comrades drew great strength and experience from this action and from these heroes. They became the hearts of their comrades; they became symbols of the spirit of democratic socialism. They became followers of many internationalist revolutionaries such as Ronahî, Sara, Nûdem, Şiyar, Bager, Elefterya, and most recently Tîjda Zagros. These vanguards believed in the idea of democratic socialism and struggled for it on the basis of the ideas and thoughts of Leader Apo.

Just as Azad Şerger led the dance of freedom in the mountains of Kurdistan, this time, on the peaks of the mountains of Xakurkê, he joined the dance with the fire of his heart. Guerrilla Azad and the vanguard woman Asya, together with Koçer, the brave son of his homeland, turned the dance of freedom and made their martyrdom a herald of the freedom of all the peoples of the world.