A commemoration event for the Paris martyrs was held in Strasbourg. The event at the Democratic Kurdish Community Center was attended by families of the martyrs and many people from Kurdistan. Following a minute of silence in memory of the Kurdistan Freedom Martyrs, speeches were delivered.
Speaking at the commemoration, politician Bedrettin Kavak stressed that the massacres carried out in Paris were not isolated attacks, but a continuation of a historical policy of annihilation and denial targeting the political existence and organized struggle of the Kurdish people. Kavak stated that the martyrs are not merely individuals who were lost, but fundamental pillars enabling the Kurdish people to continue to exist today as a political subject.
Drawing attention to the pioneering role of martyrs in the Kurdish Freedom Struggle, Kavak said: “At this stage, the preservation of the Kurds’ existence as political subjects has developed through the relentless struggle of the martyrs.”
Noting that throughout history the Kurdish people have either been denied or forced to submit to decisions made by others, Kavak said that every political and social gain achieved today has come at a heavy cost.
Emphasizing that martyrdom is not merely a matter of commemorating the past, Kavak stated that it also carries a responsibility toward the present and the future. He underlined that martyrdom is not a passive act of remembrance, but a call to continuity of struggle, adding that the Kurdish people’s ability to protect their language, identity, and political will depends on embracing this legacy.
In the continuation of his speech, Kavak also addressed the Kurdish diaspora in Europe, stating that the massacres carried out in Paris were a clear message directed at Kurdish political existence in the heart of Europe. Stressing that the response to these attacks should not be withdrawal but the expansion of organized struggle, Kavak noted that the attacks stretching from Paris to Strasbourg have left deep scars in the collective memory of the Kurdish people.
Mordem Varto, for his part, evaluated the ongoing process shaped by Leader Apo’s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society issued on February 27, 2025. Varto stated that the call does not merely offer a solution perspective centered on Turkey, but presents a regional approach that addresses the Kurdish issue on a democratic basis within the reshaping political, economic, and social balances of the Middle East.
Drawing attention to the ongoing war policies in the Middle East, deepening economic crises, and the pressure exerted by authoritarian regimes on societies, Varto emphasized that under these conditions the perspective of a democratic society offers a historic opportunity for both the Kurdish people and the peoples of the region. He noted that peace cannot be limited to the silencing of weapons, and that a lasting solution is only possible through recognition of the will of the peoples, free expression of identities, and the opening of space for democratic politics.
Varto also stated that Abdullah Öcalan’s call points to a new political path based on women’s freedom, local democracy, and equality among peoples, emphasizing that embracing this process is directly linked to the organized struggle of the Kurdish people. Stressing that Kurds in Europe are also an important part of this process, Varto noted that the struggle for peace and a democratic society is not confined by borders.
Following the speeches, those who lost their lives in two separate massacres targeting Kurdish revolutionaries in Paris were commemorated with a slideshow presentation. The lives and roles in the Kurdish freedom struggle of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan, and Leyla Şaylemez, who were killed in the January 9, 2013 attack in Paris, were presented, as were the struggles of Evîn Goyî, Mîr Perwer, and Abdurrahman Kızıl, who were killed in another attack carried out in Paris on December 23, 2022.