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By KNC-NA:
Sakine Cansiz, a founder of the PKK and one of the three murdered Kurdish women
Los Angeles, CA – As members of the Kurdish National Congress of North America (KNC-NA) and the Kurdish Americans of California, we will hold a peaceful demonstration in protest to the recent political killing of three Kurdish women activists in Paris. This protest will start on Monday, January 14, 2013 between the hours of 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM in front of Consulate General of France in 10390 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.
On the evening of January 9, 2013, three Kurdish woman activists were shot in the head in execution-style in the office of the Kurdish Information Centre in Paris. One of them, Sakine Cansız, was a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a key organizer of Kurdish women’s struggles. Fidan Doğan was a successful Kurdish diplomat and Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) and Leyla Söylemez was a young woman involved in Kurdish youth activism in Europe. During his visit to the crime scene, the French Interior Minister said that the deaths were “without a doubt an execution.” He called it a “totally intolerable act.”
There have been negotiations peace talks between Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, the PKK’s leader who has been imprisoned in the Imrali Island since 1999, and the Turkish authorities toward peacebuilding. Many Kurds and analysts view the murders of such magnitude as an attempt to derail peace negotiations.
Peace dialogues between the PKK and the Turkish authorities are already fragile. If these murders remain unresolved, peace-building will be an all the more difficult task.
As Kurdish National Congress of North America (KNC-NA),we fully condemn these inhumane and cowardly murders. We demand the French authorities to do a full investigation and bring those responsible to justice as soon as possible.
Kurdish National Congress of North America: P.O.Box 50216, Irvine, CA 92619, www.kncna.org
