Masses commemorated the three Kurdish activists, Sakine Cansız (Sara), Fidan Doğan (Rojbîn) and Leyla Şaylemez (Ronahî), who were murdered in the French capital by the Turkish state 13 years ago. The memorial service, organized by the Kurdish Women’s Movement in France (TJK-F) and the Democratic Kurdish Council (CDK-F), took place at the site of the assassination, in front of what was then the Kurdistan Information Office on Rue La Fayette.
Participants once again demanded a comprehensive investigation into the assassination on January 9, 2013, which has not yet been fully clarified. At that time, Cansız, a co-founder of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), KNK (Kurdistan National Congress) representative Fidan Doğan, and activist Leyla Şaylemez were shot dead in their offices.
Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir: The struggle for justice is not new
In a speech, Kurdish exile politician Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir emphasized that the triple murder in Paris was not an isolated act. Rather, she said, the attack was an expression of decades of a policy of “denial and destruction” towards the Kurdish people, which was carried into the heart of Europe. “This murder is one of many political murders of Kurds that have never been solved – from the 1990s to the present day,” said Taşdemir. “The struggle for justice is not new, and it will continue, both in Paris and in Kobanê and other places in Rojava.”
Taşdemir particularly emphasized the role of revolutionary Sakine Cansız, who is considered a symbolic figure of the Kurdish women’s movement. “Her resistance extends from prisons in Turkey to Paris and beyond to Rojava,” said Taşdemir. Today, the Kurdish women’s movement is fighting not only for the rights of Kurds, but for freedom and justice worldwide, she added.
Mayor Cordebard: Impunity is incompatible with democracy
French politicians also criticized the slow pace of the legal investigation. The mayor of Paris’s 10th arrondissement, Alexandra Cordebard, called it “unacceptable” that the political murder in the heart of France has still not been fully solved. “Impunity is incompatible with democracy,” Cordebard said. “If justice is not served, it opens the door to the repetition of such acts.”
Elie Joussellin, Communist Party city councilor for the 10th arrondissement, said, “If the perpetrators and masterminds of 2013 had been named and convicted, the second attack would not have happened.” He was referring to the assassination in December 2022, in which three Kurdish activists were again killed in Paris. Paris City Councilor Geneviève Garrigos spoke of a “universal struggle for justice” being waged by the Kurdish people. “The demand for justice is not just a Kurdish issue, but concerns everyone who believes in human rights.”
“Jin, Jiyan, Azadî”
Representatives of various civil society organizations, including MRAP, the French-Kurdish Friendship Association, and the Socialist Women’s Union (SKB), also took part in the memorial event. Together with relatives of the victims, they commemorated the three Kurdish women with flowers, banners, and moments of silence.
At the end of the event, a call was made for strong participation in the large demonstration in Paris tomorrow, Saturday (January 10). The action is intended to send a message in favor of justice and against impunity. The commemoration was accompanied by slogans of the Kurdish women’s movement, including “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” (Woman, Life, Freedom.)