Statement by Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Mithat Sancar, 24.12.2022
We have learned with sadness that three Kurdish citizens lost their lives and three others were injured in a brutal attack on the Ahmet Kaya Cultural Center in Paris.
We strongly condemn this brutal attack, and we express our condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured.
We expect the French authorities to find the perpetrators, reveal the truth behind the attack, and inform the public transparently. The only way to prevent the repetition of such attacks is to reveal the truth behind them as soon as possible.
What happened?
Emine Kara, M. Şirin Aydın and Abdurrahman Kızıl were killed and three others were wounded in an armed attack near the Ahmet Kaya Cultural Center in Paris on Friday (December 23). A 69-year-old French fascist, recently released from prison, targeted the Kurdish Ahmet Kaya Cultural Centre and then a Kurdish-run restaurant and barbershop. In the barbershop he was overpowered by employees when he tried to reload his firearm. This is a targeted attack on the Kurdish community of Paris. The Kurdish committee says the attack is linked to the Turkish state’s anti-Kurdish policy.
Interior Minister of France, Gerald Darmanin said that the suspect targeted foreigners.
HDP Europe wrote on Twitter: “The attack in Paris, which was allegedly “racially motivated”, is an organised political massacre in which the victims are all Kurds!” And asked: “Why? Who is behind & benefits from it?”
Kurds and political party representatives reacted sharply to the killings being investigated as a “racist attack”. Former Presidential candidate and leader of the La France Insoummise party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said in his speech at the march in Paris: “There is no coincidence here,” and stated that the attack was an “assassination”.
Linking the murder of three Kurdish women revolutionaries in Paris 10 years ago with the massacre on 23 December, Melenchon said: “This is a terrorist act and we want the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office to launch an investigation.”
The Democratic Kurdish Council of France (CDK-F) spokesperson Agit Polat said: “It is unacceptable to exclude the terrorist nature of the attack in the investigation and to try to convince us that a right-wing extremist committed this terrible attack in our center.”
* Photo: LEWIS JOLY / AP