News
Female activists killed become symbol of Kurdish struggle (again)
Pro-Kurdish parties blame Turkish authorities for the deaths of Seve Demir, Fatma Uyar, Pakize Nayir · "Targeting of three women not a coincidence," HDP co-chair says · Murders take place 3 years after killings of another 3 Kurdish activists in
Curfew-hit Silopi is one of several towns marred by conflict between the Turkish forces on the one side, and the PKK and urban guerrillas supporting it, on the other. The conflict has claimed at least hundreds of lives since July 2015.
HDP and pro-Kurdish Democratic Party of Regions (DBP) sources argue Turkish authorities are responsible for the murder of the three women and an unidentified man. HDP MP Aycan Irmez complains that neither emergency services or health authorities sent ambulances to help the victims.
Irmez linked these recent killings to those of the three Kurdish activists in Paris three years ago: "The perpetrators are the same. Still, if they think they can eliminate us by executing our women and children, they are wrong. We will follow in their footsteps and wage a struggle until their dreams of a free country are realised."
HDP stands at the left of the political spectrum in Turkey. The party calls for a democratic solution to the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and autonomy for the Kurdish provinces. The party has feminism, environmentalism and respect for diversity as fundamental pillars.
Paris investigations point to Turkish secret services
The killings of Cansiz, Dogan and Söylemez wom global notoriety among other reasons because they took place in the heart of the French capital. Turkish authorities immediately suggested the murders could be linked to a PKK internal conflict, Cansiz being one of the group's original founders.
But official investigations by the German intelligence and the French inquiry later pointed to the involvement of the Turkish secret services in the killings.