Birsen Kars buried in Istanbul despite police repression

Birsen Kars was one of the prisoners who took part to the protests against F-Type prisons in 2000 and was burned during the 19 December 2000 massacre launched by the government to end the protest. Kars died of cancer in Germany, where she went into exile.

The funeral took place in the borough of Gazi, in Istanbul, and was attended by many people despite the repression by the police.

Although a burial and transport permit was given for Kars in Germany, her body was not delivered to her lawyers waiting at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport, and was instead brought to the Forensic Medicine Institute for an autopsy. Kars’ comrades, who protested against the harassment and arbitrary procedures, were detained by police.

The funeral, which was supposed to take place on Thursday at noon was postponed by several hours because of the attacks by the police. Birsen Kars’s lawyers and comrades decided not to hold the funeral until the detainees were released and the police blockade in front of the cemevi was lifted. HDP Deputy Musa Piroğlu, artists Pınar Aydınlar and Muzaffer Gezer as well as many citizens attended the ceremony, led by families from TAYAD, the association of relatives of political prisoners.

Women carried the coffin and speakers recalled that Kars lost her life in exile, longing for her country. “Birsen Kars represents all the human values ​​we are fighting for. – said activists – We will keep alive the values ​for which she lived and died.”

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