Source > Kongra Star

Yesterday (the 23rd of December, 2022) three Kurds were shot and killed in a terrorist
attack in Paris. The gunman also wounded another three people in three different
locations that all belong to the Kurdish community in Paris. In this context this attack is
more than simply a racist attack, which is how state authorities and the mainstream
media are presenting it. It is a politically motivated assassination targeting the Kurdistan
freedom movement.

This armed attack took place at a time when Kurds in Paris were preparing to
commemorate the deaths of three Kurdish women who were assassinated in Paris
almost exactly 10 years ago. A couple of days ago representatives of the Kurdish
community in Paris called on the French authorities to stop suppressing the truth about
the killing of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez on the 9th of January 2013,
and shielding the perpetrators under the guise of “national interest.”

10 years ago an assassin, recruited by the Turkish intelligence service, murdered Sakine
Cansız, a founding member of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and a living
embodiment of the history of the Kurdish Women’s Liberation Movement. Yesterday,
Emine Kara, nom de guerre Evin Goyi, a leading figure of the Kurdish Women’s
Movement, was murdered in the same place. Emine Kara had been struggling for the
freedom of women and her people for nearly three decades. She was a woman who
embodied the philosophy of ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’ – ‘Woman Life Freedom’ – within her
revolutionary life and struggle.

We do not believe that the death of Emine Kara, who lost her life alongside the Kurdish
artist Mir Perwer and the activist Abdullrahman Kızıl, was unrelated to the murder of
Sakine Cansız. On the contrary, she was intentionally targetted and killed as a
representative of the Kurdish women’s movement in France, coinciding with the 10th
anniversary of the massacre in Paris.

French authorities bear the responsibility for these murders by hiding the real
motivations behind the murders on January 9, 2013. By protecting the actual
perpetrators they opened the way for another massacre in Paris against Kurds. If the
condolences of state representatives in France and elsewhere are sincere then they
must act to bring the actual murderers to justice. The Kurdish people as well as the
Kurdish women’s liberation movement await a full investigation and exposition of both
massacres, and they await justice. But as long as the real perpetrators remain protected,
condemnations by French authorities as well as other state representatives are just
empty phrases.

No matter who the gunman is, we know who the real murderers are.

Almost 10 years ago, the Turkish state launched systematic assassinations
against leading figures of the Kurdish women’s movement. The first massacre in
Paris is the starting point of these strategic attacks that aim to decimate women’s
leadership in the revolution of Kurdistan. The misogynist-fascist Turkish state is
well aware of the leading role of the autonomously organised Kurdish women’s
liberation movement in the resistance. ‘Jin Jiyan Azadî’, the chant which is echoing
all around the world, is the slogan of a women’s revolution that is rooted in an
autonomously organised women’s movement to liberate life.

By targeting and assassinating leading figures of the Kurdish women’s
movement, the Turkish state is attempting to smother the women’s revolution,
which aims to free all the oppressed and exploited people in the world.

As Kongra Star, the Kurdish women’s movement of Rojava and Syria, we
vehemently condemn the murderous Turkish state and its political femicides. We
urge the French state to fully expose the murder of Emine Kara, Mir Perwer and
Abdullrahman Kızıl, hold the direct perpetrators accountable and to not once
again sacrifice justice for political interests and inter-state relations.

We reaffirm our determination to the women’s revolution and building a free life
despite all misogynist and fascists attacks. We will not allow the Turkish state and
its mercenaries to destroy our struggle by assassinating our comrades and
attacking revolutionary women’s leadership.

We call upon the women of the world, anti-capitalist and anti-fascist movements
and all freedom-seeking people to raise their voices against genocidal Turkish
attacks targetting Kurdish people. Let us strengthen women’s self-defence by
raising international solidarity and revolutionary sisterhood.

Kongra Star
Committee for Democratic Relations and Alliances
24 December 2022

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