The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) and its member organizations and country chapters across Europe demand justice for the three Kurdish martyrs massacred in a suspected Turkish-backed assault in Paris last 23 December.

In a written statement on the Paris shooting on Friday, the ILPS said the following:

“A 69-year-old French citizen and retired train driver named “William M.” opened fire in broad daylight at a Kurdish cultural center and two other Kurdish establishments in Paris, leaving three people dead, and three others wounded with one in critical condition. The assailant is known to French authorities for his racist attacks and previous attempted murders in 2016 and 2021. He was arrested by local police only after Kurdish community members subdued him. 

Days before the attack, the Kurdish community asked the police for assistance because of continuous increasing threats the Kurdish people have received. This attack also came shortly before the 10th year anniversary of the triple assassination of Sakine Cansiz, Leyla Saylemez and Fidan Dogan in Paris by Turkish intelligence operatives. The victims’ families have long pointed the finger at Turkey for being behind the deaths of the three women and demanded accountability from France as well for its failure to investigate the case properly and protect the Kurdish community. 

Within hours of the shooting, Kurdish protesters clashed with police, who used teargas in an attempt to disperse them. The French government immediately dismissed ‘terrorist motives’ as the reason behind the attack, showing their systematic neglect and blatant disregard of the Kurdish communities in Paris. 

Prior to this incident, the Turkish state launched comprehensive attacks against the Kurdish people and their self-defense guerilla forces in South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) in April this year. With the support of US imperialists, NATO and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyup Erdogan’s destabilization campaign also targets civilian communities across Turkey, Iraq and Syria in grave violation of international humanitarian laws. 

ILPS-Europe stands with the Kurdish peoples in holding the Turkish authorities accountable for their continuing fascist attacks against the Kurdish people and repression of their legitimate right to self-determination and liberation. Likewise, we condemn the French government’s complicity by inaction for failing to protect the Kurdish communities in Paris, and for its lackluster efforts to bring justice to the victims and their families. 

We condemn US imperialism and the Turkish government for their violent suppression of the Kurdish people and their attempt to crush the movement for national self-determination. We condemn the attempt to wipe out the national and cultural  identity of the Kurdish people, and the curtailment of their social, political, and economic rights.

Justice for the Kurdish martyrs! Long live the Kurdish Peoples’ Struggle! Long live International Solidarity!”