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The identities of one woman and two men who were murdered on Friday during an attack on a Kurdish Cultural Centre in Paris have been revealed.
Emine Kara (Evîn), who is known to be one of the prominent names of the Kurdish women’s movement, is among the victims of the attack, which, according to Kurdish institutions and activists, is linked to Turkey.
The European Kurdish Women’s Movement (TJK-E) called Kara a courageous and strong woman in a statement released in the aftermath of the attack.
“She has struggled for women in her country in every part of our country and has challenged the colonialists with her heart and mind. The massacre of a brave Kurdish woman whose life has been kneaded with this effort and who has dedicated her life to freedom is not a coincidence. The murderous male-states think that they will stop women’s freedom struggle by massacring women,” the statement said.
The movement added that the attack targeted the Kurdish Women’s Movement, like a similar attack did in Paris in 2013, when three female Kurdish activists, including a founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were assassinated.
“The bullet was fired once again to women, to freedom and to Kurds. Women’s blood was shed again in Paris, again leaving the crimes of the massacrers in darkness,” TJK-E said.
The second victim of the Friday’s bloody attack was musician Mîr Perwer (Mehmet Şirin Aydın), who left Turkey in 2021 and sought asylum in France.
Cesim İlhani, a Kurdish journalist, wrote on Twitter that he had been in touch with Perwer on Instagram, saying that the musician planned returning to Turkey.
Perwer’s body will be brought to his hometown, the eastern province of Muş in Turkey, for burial, according to Özgür Politika newspaper. Many people have been visiting his family to express their condolences after his death, the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, many users on social media shared videos of Perwer singing. Musician and human rights activist Ferhat Tunç was among those people.
“We have sadly learnt that our artist friend, dear #MirPerwer is among those who lost their lives due to racist attack in Paris that targeted Kurds,” Tunç said. “I condemn the massacre, and remember those who lost their lives with respect,” he added.
The third victim is Abdurrahman Kızıl, a Kurdish political activist.
His nephew, Deniz Bapir, called Friday’s murders a political assassination and the continuation of the 2013 assassinations, adding that the Turkish state started targeting Kurdish activists in Europe in order to cover its losses in military incursions into northern Iraq against Kurdish groups.
“Europe is now really not a safe place for Kurds. This is understood clearly,” Bapir said. “We are deeply sad. We lost one of our brave men but we will definitely escalate this resistance,” he added, calling all Kurdish people to take to the streets of Paris to protests the assassinations.
