PKK Commander Mahsum Korkmaz remembered in Marseille

With a spectacular action in Marseille, activists of the Kurdish youth movement commemorated the guerrilla commander Mahsum Korkmaz. Under his responsibility, "the first shot" of the PKK was fired 36 years ago.

In the southern French port city of Marseille, activists of the Kurdish youth movement TCŞ (Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger) commemorated the guerrilla commander Mahsum Korkmaz - also known as his Nom de Guerre Egîd (Kurd. "The Brave"). The occasion for the spectacular action on a mountain massif that can be seen everywhere in Marseille was the 36th anniversary of the death of the legendary PKK co-founder. The activists attached a huge PKK flag to the mountain and waved lights, chanting "Commander Egîd".

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fired the first bullet against the Turkish army on 15 August 1984.

A 36-strong guerrilla unit, led by the legendary commander Mahsum Korkmaz - also known with his nom de Guerre Egid ("the brave") – carried out on 15 August 1984, the first armed action against the Turkish occupying forces. For the action, which is regarded as the beginning of the armed liberation struggle, a barracks of the military police had been selected. A guard soldier and an officer were killed, there were no losses in the guerrilla.

The founding declaration of the HRK (Kurdistan Liberation Forces, Hêzên Rizgarîya Kurdistan) was then read out over the loudspeaker of a mosque. In the leaflet of the " Kurdistan Liberation Forces," as the guerrillas called themselves in the early years of the armed struggle, based on the "Vietnam Liberation Army" formed at the beginning of the Vietnamese freedom struggle, it said: "The HRK is pursuing the goal of leading our people’s fight for national independence, a democratic society, freedom and unity under the leadership of the PKK against imperialism, Turkish colonial fascism and their native lackeys in an armed manner."

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