Serfiraz, 25, said in recent years he had hoped the "Kurdish problem" in Turkey could be solved through talks between the government and the PKK — but after the ceasefire broke down the attacks by the army on Kurdish militants and civil society had become such that, he said, the only option was war.
Bakur, 27, said after being arrested during a protest he was set to be sent to jail for 15 years — so he joined the YPS before his final court date.
The fighters have created barricades to impede the Turkish army's movement through the city. Sometimes they use trucks; others are made from bricks taken from municipal sidewalks and roads. Many of the brick barricades have handmade explosives underneath, triggered by pressure or remote control.
Zenda, 27, a member of the YPS-JIN, the female brigade of the YPS, which was set up in January 2016. As well as fighting the Turkish state, they say the also fight the dominant patriarchal culture in Turkey.
Guerrillas sometimes head to a highway running alongside the city, hijack trucks, and move them to neighborhoods to use as barricades, giving away whatever they were transporting to civilians. VICE News saw one truck full of oranges, one with flour, and one with medicines.
Xebat, 22, said he had difficulties walking due to injury but he was determined to keep fighting in Nusaybin.
A Kurdish civilian points out damage caused by clashes as his daughter stands in the foreground. Rights groups say hundreds of civilians have been killed during the fighting and tens of thousands have been forced from their homes.
Agir, an 18-year-old fighter. The YPS is estimated to have more than 1,000 fighters. It emerged out of the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H), the youth wing of the PKK, which was founded in 2013. Civilians refer to them as 'the youngsters."
Nusaybin has a long history of radical politics. Most of the families living in the city have at least one member who joined the PKK and either died or is still fighting or in jail. Many mothers have decided to stay in Nusaybin to help guerrillas rather than flee the city. They had sewn together these blankets to hide the street view from Turkish army snipers.
Canfeda, 21, described himself as a Turkish Communist who had come from the west of the country to join the resistance in Nusaybin.
Rohat, 18, said he didn't mind if he died fighting as he had already lost some family members who were fighting with the PKK against Turkey, and he has many young people in his family who would join after him.
Bagok, 24 said he had previously had a comfortable life studying psychology in a university in west Turkey, but felt compelled to join the YPS after seeing the amount of civilians killed by Turkish forces in recent months.