A PKK militant, who first gained public attention as "the girl with red foulard" during the 2013 Gezi protests, died fighting in the terrorist group's Syrian offshoot People's Protection Units (YPG) ranks near the Daesh terrorist group's bastion in Syria.
Turkish media outlets reported Tuesday that Ayşe Deniz Karacagil, 25, died near Raqqa during a U.S.-led coalition backed offensive from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by the YPG. PKK–affiliated news outlets also confirmed Karacagil's death.
According to reports, Karacagil was a member of the SDF's so-called International Freedom Battallion. Her death once again provides evidence of the clear ties between the YPG and the PKK terror groups, which are being backed by the U.S.-lead coalition fighting Daesh, despite the fact that the U.S. and a considerable number of coalition members designate the PKK as a terrorist group.
Karacagil made headlines in Turkey when she and seven other suspects were arrested in the southern province of Antalya in October 2013 for taking part in the June 2013 Gezi Protests, which started as a small environmental protest in Istanbul but quickly escalated into nationwide anti-government riots, with many terrorist groups exploiting the situation and joining in.
In addition to damaging public property, resisting public officials, violating the law on public meetings and membership to a terror organization, one of the charges brought against Karacagil, then 21-years-old, was wearing a red scarf that was interpreted in the indictment as evidence of "membership to a terrorist organization," thus giving her the nickname.
Although the prosecutor asked for at least a 24 year prison term for Karacagil, the court released her and two other suspects in February 2014 under judicial control, the red foulard, now officially considered as evidence, was not returned despite eight requests from her attorneys. Eight other suspects from the trial were acquitted in May 2016, while Karacagil's lawyer Hakan Evcin was arrested in September 2016 with charges of membership to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).
Partly as a result of her nearly five-month-long imprisonment before appearing in front of a court, the public was initially sympathetic to Karacagil's case. She gave a prime-time interview with national broadcaster CNN Türk, which led to a terror investigation against its parent company Doğan Media Group.
Four months later, she again made headlines when news reports suggested that Karacagil had left Turkey to join the PKK terrorist group. Her mother also confirmed the reports and said that Karacagil told her that she was in northeastern Syria. Several months later, a PKK-affiliated newspaper released an interview with Karacagil that had been recorded in the terrorist group's headquarters in Iraq's Qandil Mountains, along with pictures showing Karacagil alongside terrorist group's leader Murat Karayılan.
The issue also prompted a similar public debate as during her imprisonment in an Antalya jail, Karacagil, who did not have a criminal record at the time, was placed in a ward occupied by women convicted of crimes linked to the PKK.