Deniz Bülbün was laid to rest in his hometown of Hakkari (Colemêrg) on Friday evening. Bülbün lost his life during an armed attack on KNK offices in Erbil (Hewlêr) on 18 September.https://t.co/h5Do4uY7A6 pic.twitter.com/xs4KaGXztd
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) September 24, 2023
Deniz Bülbün, who was killed in an armed attack on the office of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Erbil (Hewlêr), Kurdistan Region of Iraq, on 18 September, was buried in his hometown of Hakkari (Colemêrg) on Friday evening. The funeral was attended by thousands of mourners.
After a short funeral ceremony at the KNK office in Erbil, Bülbün’s body was sent to his hometown, the Yüksekova (Gever) district of Hakkari, on Friday morning, but was stopped and held by Turkish soldiers at the border crossing. It was only handed over to his family late in the evening at Şırnak (Şirnex) State Hospital, where an autopsy was carried out.
A large crowd greeted the funeral procession in Yüksekova. Thousands of people, including Saliha Aydeniz of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar, spokeswoman of the Green Left, and activists of the Free Women’s Movement (TJA), took part in the mass funeral.
Speaking at Bülbün’s grave, Uçar expressed her condolences to the KNK and the Kurdish community and stressed that the lives lost represent the core values of the Kurdish people and their continuous struggle.
Uçar went on to highlight that the attacks escalated after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to the Kurdistan Region in August. “The Kurdistan Region has turned into a crime scene,” she said, expressing concern about Turkey’s efforts to “forge new alliances in its ongoing conflict with the Kurds”.
Uçar’s message was aimed directly at the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, questioning the circumstances of Bülbün’s murder, especially in a place under the constant control of the KDP and Asayish security forces. It questioned the authorities’ apparent silence and lack of response to the incident and stressed that until the perpetrators are identified and the forces behind them exposed, the KDP shares responsibility for the armed attack.