The co-chair of the Executive Council of Shengal Autonomous Administration was murdered on Tuesday in a targeted drone attack carried out by Turkey.

In the canton of Hesekê in northeast Syria, thousands of people took to the streets on Thursday to protest the violent death of Mervan Bedel. The co-chair of the Autonomous Administration executive council in Shengal was killed by a drone while traveling with his two children, who survived the attack.

“We condemn the aggression carried out by the Turkish state against our peoples who long for peace. With the attack on Merwan Bedel, the leadership in Ankara has once again proven that it is nourished by terror, division and war,” said people at a rally in the Waşokanî camp west of Hesekê.

Demonstration in Al-Nasra

A demonstration took place in the central Al-Nasra district. A banner read: “Yesterday it was ISIS who attacked Shengal. Today it is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mesûd Barzanî and Mustafa al-Kadhimi”.

At the final rally in the Cûdî district, women's rights activist Wesif Şebût from Kongra Star accused the Turkish state of anti-Kurdish racism.

Remedan Fetah, the co-chair of the civil council of Hesekê, said that Turkey's primary goal in northern and eastern Syria and Rojava is the "elimination of patriotic figurs", while the Turkish state terror in southern Kurdistan and especially Shengal focuses on the execution of politicians who were actively involved in establishing the Autonomous Administration after the genocide carried out by ISIS in 2014.

Rally in Hol

Demonstrations were also held in Amûdê, Çilaxa, Girkê Legê, Dêrik, Tell Brak, Şedadê, Hol and Til Temir. At a protest rally in Dirbêsiyê, the murder of Merwan Bedel was described as a continuation of the genocide of the Yazidis. “The international community is not embarrassed to ignore the fact that the Turkish state is constantly targeting a people that has been able to save itself from complete annihilation,” said Ristem Bekir, co-chair of Dirbêsiyê civil council.