“The French state’s failure to expose those responsible and bring them to account has paved the way for another massacre," said people who demonstrated in Manbij against the massacres of Kurds.
People of Manbij took to the streets on Saturday in protest at the Kurdish massacres perpetrated by the Turkish state in Paris and Kurdistan.
Demonstrators condemned the latest armed attack on the Kurdish community on 23 December 2022 which left three dead and three injured. The victims are revolutionary Evîn Goyî (Emine Kara), who only came to Europe in 2019 and previously worked on projects for displaced Yazidi people from Shengal in Rojava after decades of living in the mountains of Kurdistan; musician Mîr Perwer (M. Şirin Aydın), who fled Turkey due to a final sentence of 20 years imprisonment for alleged membership of a "terrorist organisation" and applied for political asylum in France; and Abdurrahman Kızıl, a Kurdish patriot in his 60s who was considered a memory of the cultural centre.
The attack came before the upcoming 10th year anniversary of the triple murder on 9 January 2013 of PKK founding member Sakine Cansız (Sara), KNK (Kurdistan National Congress) Paris Representative Fidan Doğan (Rojbîn) and Kurdish youth movement member Leyla Şaylemez (Ronahî) at Kurdish Information Bureau at Gare Nord.
The protest organized by Syrian Future Party Manbij Youth Council was staged under the motto “Perpetrators of the Paris massacre and massacres against Syrian people are the same”.
Hundreds of people, Revolutionary Youth Movement, Young Women’s Union, Zenûbiya Women’s Council, civil assemblies, civil society organizations, women’s organizations, political party representatives marched from El Hemdonî Station to El Cezîre Junction, chanting “No to Turkish invasion”, “No to massacres against free folks” and displaying images of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and victims of the second Paris massacre.
The march was followed by a rally where Syrian Future Party Council Member Ednan Xelîfe addressed the crowd, saying, “We took to the streets to expose the Turkish state’s projects and colonial policies against our territories.”
Criticizing the silence of the French government, Xelîfe said “The French state’s failure to expose those responsible and bring them to account has paved the way for another massacre.”
Data available points to Turkish involvement in this massacre, said Xelîfe, adding, “We condemn the Turkish state’s massacres against our people. We call on the French government to conduct an investigation and bring those responsible to justice.”
The rally concluded with slogans “No to international silence” and “Long live democratic and decentralized Syria.”
