The Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDF-K) organised a colloquium, hosted by Frédéric Mathieu, MP for La France Insoumise and the NUPES (LFI-NUPES) on Thursday in the French parliament to question the 2013 killings of Kurdish activists Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Saylemez.
As a part of the colloquium, politicians in the French parliament discussed the political treatment of the 2013 assassination case, along with the recent killing of another three Kurds in the heart of Paris.
Senator Rémi Féraud said that the killings of the three Kurdish activists last December should be qualified as a terrorist attack:
“The refusal to lift the top-secret classification on documents is an error. That sows doubt in our minds. If you check the definition of a terrorist attack, the triple assassination of 23 December is a terrorist attack: the use of violence with a political goal with the objective to impress the public opinion.”
Senator Laurence Cohen from the French Communist Party denounced the close collaboration between France and Turkey and the current hypocrisy of the West towards the Kurds:
“So, there is a close collaboration between the French government and Turkey. Not only today. Concerning the magnificent intervention of the Kurds in Rojava, in Kobane, with Rémi, we witnessed in the Senate: all political factions of Senators said with the hand on their hearts: “The Kurds are wonderful! They are very courageous. A wall against obscurantism. Extraordinary.” And it’s true. Nobody will deny that. But today, where are we now?”
Danielle Simonnet, member of Parliament, spoke about the double standards of the West concerning Ukraine and Rojava:
“They speak a lot about the war in Ukraine, but they mention much less about the bombings on the north of Syria, on Rojava, bombings ordered by Erdoğan. They mention much less about targets chosen by Erdoğan: hospitals, grain silos, certain persons targeted by drones, also women who are targeted because of the political role they play there.”
Jean-Christophe Sellin, co-ordinator of the Left Party in France mentioned the important role of Abdullah Öcalan in the resolution of the conflict, not only in Turkey, but in the entire Middle East:
“The political solution for Kurdistan has to pass through the liberation of comrade Apo, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned for more than 2 decades and is in isolation. Abdullah Öcalan is the legitimate representative of the Kurdish people. He is the Nelson Mandela of the Kurds. Remember what happened more than 30 years ago in South-Africa! A political solution has been found with the protagonists of the conflict.”
Olivier Besancenot from the New Anticapitalist Party focused on the fact that even the mainstream French media had revealed the implication of Turkish secret services in the killing of the three Kurdish activists in 2013.
“They revealed audio registering, meetings and testimonies that lead directly to the Turkish intelligence services with the implication of the highest circles of the State, that means Erdoğan. Except that many chapters have been barred in black, documents still classified. That means that not only judicial investigation can reveal the truth. We need to reinforce a campaign so that we obtain concretely the truth, by all means necessary. In this country, if we don’t make noise, they don’t hear us.”
Jérôme Gleizes mentioned the ongoing effects of the Lausanne treaty, signed 100 years ago:
“This year we will celebrate the 100 years of the Lausanne treaty. It’s one of the most important betrayals of the West toward the Kurds and the Armenians. It is one of the national questions from the 19th Century that have never been resolved and till today, that poses the political question we are confronted with.”
Many speakers called Paris the capital of political assassinations and agreed about the necessity to give full disclosure of classified files in order to get to the truth in the assassination of Cansız, Doğan and Saylemez.
