The Press Office of the People's Defence Forces (HPG) released a statement regarding the killing of Kurdish patriot Mehmet Yıldırım by the Turkish military in Lice district of Amed (Diyarbakır).

The HPG statement on Monday said: "The struggle for the truth that our Saturday Mothers have been waging with great perseverance, will and determination has entered its 1000th week. The fate of thousands of martyrs of the Kurdish people, who are called victims of unknown perpetrators but whose perpetrators are known by everyone to be the genocidal Turkish state, has not been clarified even today. We respectfully salute the struggle of the martyrs' mothers and families, which sets an example for the whole world.

Unfortunately, the genocidal Turkish state's inhumane attacks against innocent Kurdish people continue today in full force. On 24 May 2024, in Nenyas in the Lice district of Amed, the patriot Mehmet Yıldırım was brutally murdered by the Turkish state in his own home and in front of his family. The fascist Turkish state, the sworn enemy of the Kurdish people, had previously kidnapped and murdered Adnan Yıldırım from the Yıldırım family on 3 June 1994 together with Savaş Buldan and Hacı Karay. 18-year-old Medeni Yıldırım, the son of martyr Mehmet Yıldırım's uncle, was murdered by Turkish soldiers during a protest on 28 June 2013.

Mehmet Yıldırım, who was imprisoned by the Turkish state for 3 years in 2008, was a person who never compromised his patriotic stance. He had no other goal than to live honourably with his family and identity in his village, in the land where he was born. However, the genocidal Turkish state brutally attacked and martyred Mehmet Yıldırım, just like the other members of this family who were brutally murdered. This incident has once again shown that every free Kurdish individual who insists on living honourably is targeted by the genocidal state. It does not matter whether he is a guerrilla or a civilian. Mehmet Yıldırım, as a great example of Kurdistan patriotism, did not give in to the enemy, did not surrender and resisted to protect the honour of patriotism just like a self-sacrifical militant and fell a martyr by fighting. This principled patriotic stance of Mehmet Yıldırım is a very honourable valour. Because he risked martyrdom in order not to be captured once again by the genocidal enemy.

In the person of martyr Mehmet Yıldırım, we commemorate the martyrs of the Yıldırım family and all our martyrs with respect and gratitude. We promise that we will fight harder to be worthy of such a valuable and honourable patriotic stance and that we will avenge them, and we express our condolences to the dear Yıldırım family and all our patriotic people of Lice."