One year after his death in the mountains of Kurdistan, a commemorative plaque for Michael Panser has been erected in Potsdam, Germany. The internationalist guerilla fighter, whom many people also knew as Xelîl Viyan and Bager Nûjiyan, fell in a Turkish air raid on the Medya Defense Zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) on 14 December 2018.

"In the streets of this city, behind the facade of this house, we spent many hours together," explained family members and Panser's circle of friends. "We discussed, cooked, argued, laughed, read and philosophized.  These encounters and the time with Micha are unforgettable. With the plaque we want to make his story visible outside of our memories. The questions he has asked will continue to move us and the people of this city," said the speakers.

Michael Panser got to know the Kurdish liberation movement in 2011. In 2012 he travelled to Kurdistan for the first time, where his deep connection with the philosophy of the Kurdish People’s Leader and PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan began.

In an obituary to Panser, the Internationalist Commune of Rojava wrote: "He was driven by the idea of sharing his experiences and enthusiasm for the Kurdish liberation movement. He was convinced of the universal significance of the revolution in Mesopotamia for all freedom seekers, resisters and revolutionaries in the world. In a few years he managed to connect many people and movements with the liberation movement and to build bridges. In 2015 he himself returned to the revolutionary areas of Rojava to become part of the social change and also took his place in the defense of the Yezidi people in Shengal. In 2017, however, it led him back to the liberated mountains of Zarathustra in search of wisdom, true friendship, struggle and free life in the PKK.”

RELATED NEWS: