Murders of Kurds : the French authorities fail to hear the warnings !

Fol­lo­wing the latest mur­ders of Kurds in Paris, the Pinar Selek soli­da­ri­ty groups are expres­sing their soli­da­ri­ty with the Kur­dish people. They recall the war­nings issued by the wri­ter and socio­lo­gist per­se­cu­ted by the Tur­kish autho­ri­ties and denounce « suc­ces­sive govern­ments that do not acti­ve­ly pro­tect the Kur­dish com­mu­ni­ty, nor all exiles and refu­gees in Tur­key ». Just a week ago, our com­rade and friend Pinar Selek wrote the fol­lo­wing on her Media­part blog : « With the green light from Rus­sia and the com­pli­cit silence of the Euro­pean com­mu­ni­ty, which is trying to save its short-term eco­no­mic and finan­cial inter­ests, the Tur­kish govern­ment is step­ping up its attacks, accom­pa­nied by the mur­der of acti­vists and intel­lec­tuals. […] Exiles are not safe, as the « Tur­kish ser­vices » are so active in Europe. The year 2023 is pre­dic­table : we will see new explo­sions or attacks orga­ni­sed by « invi­sible » people. The inves­ti­ga­tions will never be com­ple­ted… As long as the Wes­tern coun­tries do not take a clear posi­tion, Tur­key will not emerge from the tun­nel of hor­ror ».

Today the hor­ror is in Paris. Today the hor­ror is repea­ted. Three Kurds have been mur­de­red : Emine Kara, an impor­tant lea­der of the Kur­dish Women’s Move­ment in France, the Kur­dish sin­ger Mîr Per­wer, a poli­ti­cal refu­gee, and an ordi­na­ry acti­vist who devo­ted his life to defen­ding the Kur­dish cause. First of all, we would like to express our com­pas­sion and soli­da­ri­ty with all the vic­tims of this hor­ri­fic mur­der, and with their fami­lies too. But we also want to express our fear and anger. Fear that the French autho­ri­ties will not shed full light on this ter­ro­rist act, as was the case with the mur­der of three Kur­dish poli­ti­cal acti­vists on 9 Janua­ry 2013 by a Tur­kish secret ser­vice agent. Anger at the French autho­ri­ties for refu­sing poli­ti­cal asy­lum to Emine Kara, an acti­vist who fought against Daesh in Syria. Anger at suc­ces­sive govern­ments that have fai­led for at least 15 years to acti­ve­ly pro­tect the Kur­dish com­mu­ni­ty and all exiles and refu­gees in Tur­key.

Beri­van Firat, exter­nal rela­tions spo­kes­per­son for the Kur­dish Demo­cra­tic Coun­cil in France (CDKF), believes that the Kur­dish com­mu­ni­ty has been direct­ly tar­ge­ted. In her view, the choice of a Kur­dish cultu­ral cen­ter, then a Kur­dish res­tau­rant and final­ly a Kur­dish hair­dres­ser was no acci­dent. Choo­sing the time of a mee­ting of Kur­dish femi­nists in France to pre­pare for the com­me­mo­ra­tions on 9 Janua­ry 2013 was no coin­ci­dence either. This was a poli­ti­cal act that stem­med from ter­ro­rism, not just racism. And if it was « only » a racist assas­si­na­tion, there is nothing to prevent us from thin­king that the racist man may have been direc­ted by the « Grey Wolves », who have become spe­cia­lists in mani­pu­la­tion and poli­ti­cal attacks in France and Europe. In fact, their prio­ri­ty tar­gets are Kur­dish acti­vists who sym­bo­lise and embo­dy trans­na­tio­nal struggles against natio­na­list and autho­ri­ta­rian regimes.

Today we are saying that we need to re-read Guillaume Per­rier’s ana­lyses in an impor­tant inter­view publi­shed in Street Press under the fol­lo­wing title : « How do the Tur­kish secret ser­vices deploy their net­works in France?”

Based on very serious inves­ti­ga­tions, the jour­na­list made the fol­lo­wing obser­va­tion : « In order not
to offend Anka­ra, France does not pro­tect Kur­dish mili­tants on its ter­ri­to­ry… The cri­mi­na­li­sa­tion of the Kur­dish move­ment in France dates back to 2007, under the man­date of Nico­las Sar­ko­zy, whose aim was to main­tain good rela­tions with Tur­key ».

Today nothing has chan­ged in France, while the repres­sion of the Kur­dish people has never been so strong in Tur­key and out­side Tur­key. Today France is silent so as not to dis­please Erdo­gan. As Pinar Selek wrote in her last blog : « France and Europe must break the silence ».

The natio­nal coor­di­na­tion of col­lec­tives in soli­da­ri­ty with Pinar Selek