On 9 January 2013, three Kurdish women activists were shot dead in the centre of Paris. Since then, every year young people have joined a demonstration to commemorate what the Kurds know as the “Paris massacre”. Medya News collected the voices of the youth during the annual commemoration rally at Place de la République, Paris, on 11 January 2025.
Attending the rally from many European countries, such as France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, young people are a powerful voice in the call for justice and clarity in the murder of the three activists Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez.
The young people send a message embracing the activities of Sakine, Fidan and Leyla in organising and educating women, who are at the forefront of the transformation of society towards democratisation and freedom. Some of the young people interviewed say that it is not possible to separate what happened to the three Kurdish activists in Paris from the war perpetrated by Turkey against the Kurdish people in the Middle East. Just as the Turkish attacks on Kurdish inhabited areas there aim to break the will of the people, the Paris massacre, under the direction of the Turkish secret service (MIT), aimed to hit the Kurdish people’s organisation abroad.
Some of the young people interviewed said that the antidote to further violence and bloodshed is brotherhood between peoples. Their words echo the message of the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned in Turkey. In his last message from his condition of isolation, he said: “Strengthening the bonds of Turkish-Kurdish brotherhood is not only a historical responsibility, but also an urgent and critical necessity for all communities.”
Despite the unresolved mysteries and ambiguities that still surround what the Kurds call the Paris massacre of 2013 and the “second Paris massacre” of 2022, which claimed the lives of another three Kurdish activists, the memory of all the activists still warms the hearts and souls of those who joined the commemoration.
Four young people from Italy, Switzerland and Germany explained to Medya News why they took part in the commemorationof Sakine, Fidan and Leyla.
Errico, from the Serhildan Network in Switzerland, spoke to Medya News. “It is very important to be here today because the Kurdish revolutionary movement is an amazing experience that is happening. For us, people like Sakine, like Fidan, like Leyla, are of great importance and are a great inspiration. Especially Sakine, who was one of the first women to build the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK),” he said.
Aurora, a young woman from Italy who is a part of the Youth Internationalist Commune, said, “Now we are in a third global war and we can see that the Middle East is in the centre of this global war, but the solution can be the brotherhood, the sisterhood that we have with all the people of all the countries of the whole world. But in order to believe this, it is necessary that Abdullah Öcalan can be free.”
Celia, part of Young Internationalist Women, joined the demonstration from Germany to honour the memory of the three Kurdish activists. “The lives of Sakine, Fidan and Leyla showed what it means to be a free woman, what it means to be a revolutionary woman, what it means to lead the revolution in our minds, in our hearts, on our streets,” she said.
Simone, from the Youth Internationalist Commune of Torino, Italy, explained: “As internationalist youth we recognise the importance of supporting the popular struggle all over the world, especially in Rojava (northeast Syria). We are closely following the developments of the war that is attacking the democratic administration [Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria] and the revolution in northeast Syria […] and we remember the efforts of the martyrs who are falling there under the attacks of the Turkish fascist state.”
