In a statement to the public on May 12, 2025, the board of the 12th congress of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) announced the martyrdom of Ali Haydar Kaytan (Fuat) and Rıza Altun, two leading members of the Kurdish freedom movement. The statement described Ali Haydar Kaytan as a symbol of loyalty to the Kurdish people’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, to truth, and to the sacred life, and Rıza Altun as a symbol of comradeship with freedom. After this announcement, Kurdish people in the four parts of Kurdistan and abroad came together and honored the two martyrs in commemorative events.  

In a statement marking the 7th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ali Haydar Kaytan, who fell on July 3, 2018, the Co-Presidency of the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council commemorates “with great respect, love, and gratitude comrade Fuat, who was the first to join Abdullah Öcalan on his path of the freedom struggle, and a founding leader of this movement and an unwavering great pioneer.”

The KCK statement, which commemorates all the martyrs of the revolution and democracy in Kaytan’s memory, said the following:

“Undoubtedly, comrade Fuat’s martyrdom has been very difficult for our movement and our people. He was a great source of ideological, organizational, and enlightening inspiration for our struggle. In the course of his half-century-long revolutionary journey, he achieved great values for our movement and our people. As a human being, a comrade, and a revolutionary, he gave the utmost he could give. Comrade Fuat, like Haki Karer and Kemal Pir, was one of the first comrades to join Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. From the moment they first met until the moment he fell as a martyr, he contributed great strength to the struggle for freedom with unwavering faith, determination, resolve, and enthusiasm, dedicating his entire life to it. He spent every moment of his life in struggle, labor, concentration, intensification, educating his comrades, and leading them. Comrade Fuat, the sage of the mountains and Kurdistan, with his accumulated knowledge, intellectual power, and boundless emotional intensity, created a power of meaning that was always a source of strength and determination for his comrades in their struggle. His depth and understanding of Leader Abdullah Öcalan served as a source of morale and guidance for his comrades in overcoming every difficulty. When Leader Abdullah Öcalan received the news of his martyrdom, he said, “He was the comrade who understood me better than I understood myself.”

Comrade Fuat’s contribution to the development of our understanding and comprehension of Leader Abdullah Öcalan was immense. He was not only a great organizer and thinker, but also a great educator. His efforts, labor, and depth in this regard were immense. His anger toward everything that kept humanity and society from freedom was immense. He lived with this anger every moment and transformed it into intellectual and struggle power.

Comrade Fuat, whose revolutionary spirit and contributions to the Kurdish freedom struggle cannot be adequately expressed in words, is truly a great symbol of truth and the sacred life. He is a comrade who deserves to be understood and remembered in this way. We call upon all our people and friends to commemorate the memory of our great martyr Fuat on the seventh anniversary of his martyrdom. We once again remember him with respect, love, and gratitude. By bringing the Democratic Socialist Society to life, we will realize the sacred goal of freedom for all our revolutionary and freedom martyrs, embodied in comrade Fuat. We reiterate this pledge once again on this occasion.”