At a critical political juncture, the Kurds in Europe have faced a second act of Turkish state terrorism. Not only in terms of domestic policy, but also in terms of foreign policy, the war against the Kurds has become a national strategy in the era of Erdogan. The first Turkish state terrorism took place on 9th January 2013, with the murder of founding member of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), Sakine Cansız, member of KNK foreign affairs, Fidan Doğan, and member of the Kurdish youth movement, Leyla Şaylemez. Just before the 10th anniversary of this attack, a second triple murder took place, again in Paris and again in a Kurdish institution.
The first attack took place at the time when Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan, had begun a period of dialogue with the Turkish government. The attack was intended to prevent this peace process.
The second attack, on 23rd December, took place at a time when the successful fight by the Kurds against IS has developed into a broad sympathy worldwide, and especially in France. Since 2013, solidarity and sympathy with the Kurds has grown in France, both at the level of civil society and in government policy. The Kurdish fight against IS has been particularly resonant in France, which is threatened by various IS-like jihadists. Evin Goyî (Emine Kara), who was one of the victims of this second attack, belonged to the Kurdish Freedom and Women’s Movement that stopped IS.
The Erdogan regime sees the Kurdish freedom struggle as an obstacle to its expansionist policy of neo-Ottomanism. In 2022, his regime systematically committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kurdistan. As if that were not enough, he has exported the war against the Kurds to Europe via France. The Turkish message is clear: Kurds are not safe anywhere. His other goal is to isolate the Kurds in order to weaken the existing sympathy and solidarity.
We therefore invite you to stand together with the Kurds against the Erdogan regime. Furthermore, we would ask you to join us in loudly calling on the French government to expose the masterminds behind the murders, so that further murders can be prevented. And we also ask the French government not to turn their back on the Kurds for the sake of their own diplomatic, economic, and military interests.
For all the above reasons, we invite you to participate in the great demonstration and rally on Saturday, January 7, 2023.
Start of the march: 10.00 Gare du Nord, Paris
Rally: 12:00 Place de la République
For further information please contact:
Agit Polat (French) +33 7 69 90 25 75
Baran Gürbüz (English) +33 6 66 14 98 48
E-Mail: kongrakurdistan@gmail.com
Kind regards
The Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress
