Yeni Özgür Politika shares interviews with the families of the internationalist German revolutionaries, Jakob Riemer (Şiyar), Michael Panser (Bager) and Konstantin Gedig (Andok), who lost their lives fighting as part of the Kurdish Freedom struggle.
Jakob Riemer (Şiyar), Michael Panser (Bager) and Konstantin Gedig (Andok) lost their lives in air strikes of the Turkish state in its battle with the Kurdish Freedom fighters.
The families of the German revolutionaries shared that many German media outlets had reached out to them after they wrote a letter to Angela Merkel, but that their words have been misrepresented, censored and some of the interviews they gave were not even published.
The families of Jakob, Michael and Konstantin said, “We are so proud of our children.”
Katharina Riemer, Hans-Ulrich Panser, Ute Ruß and Thomas Gedig had previously written a letter adressed to Angela Merkel in the October of 2020, stating that their children went to Kurdistan with their own free will and had lost their lives in their fight for freedom and democracy and to protect shared values of humanity.
The letter, which called on the German Government “To immediately stop cooperation and arms trading with the Turkish state,” has not been given any response by the German authorities.
“We are so proud of them”
The families of Şiyar, Bager and Andok commented on why they felt the need to write a letter to the German authorities and their own personal view of the Kurdish Freedom struggle.
“Our children choose, by their own free will, to join the fight that aims at ending the injustice the Kurdish people have been subjected to and we are so proud of them and the decision they made,” the families said.
No official reply from Angela Merkel
“We thought that Angela Merkel may develop an empathy with us and she may understand us,” the families said explaining their motives for writing a letter to Angela Merkel.
“She just sent us a simple acknowledgement of reciept of our letter. It was only Dr. Marco Buschmann, an MP of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) of Germany who sent us any reply to our letters. He stated that relations of Germany and Turkey have never been worse in their history and that the Turkish state needs to be given a serious warning,” the families stated.
“We will do anything we can for the Kurdish people”
The families of the German revolutionaries also said that many German media outlets have reached out to them after they wrote the letter, but that their speeches were censored and some of the interviews they made were not even published.
“We do not expect to have instant results, but we will continue to give support to the struggle that we have inherited from our children. We will do anything to create a positive public opinion for the struggle of the Kurdish people. Struggle needs time and patience, we believe that we have this energy as the families of the martyrs.”
