DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — In pitch dark one night in 1991, some 50 people marched from Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq toward the Turkish border, unarmed and clad in traditional local attire. As they approached the frontier, a Turkish reconnaissance helicopter began to hover in the area, complicating their plan to sneak into Turkey. Only one woman marched among the men — 19-year-old Amineh Kakabaveh. She kept calm despite the building tension. Evading the helicopter and the border guards, the travelers managed to reach the Turkish border town of Silopi around midnight. The young Kakabaveh could have hardly imagined she was on a journey to a bright political career in Europe.

An Iranian Kurd, Kakabaveh belonged to the Revolutionary Society of Iranian Kurdistan's Toilers, better known as Komala. She had joined its armed wing as a child to become a peshmerga, or a Kurdish guerrilla fighter.

A member of the Swedish parliament today, Kakabaveh was in Diyarbakir last week to observe firsthand developments in Turkey’s ongoing crackdown on urban Kurdish militants. In an interview with Al-Monitor, she shared her remarkable life story, which began in an impoverished Iranian Kurdish family 44 years ago.

Born in Saqqez, western Iran, Kakabaveh was one of eight children. To help her parents make ends meet, she began working at an early age, selling handmade items or toiling at the farms of wealthy families. As several people around her joined Komala, the young Kakabaveh became interested in politics.