REPORT
“Tomorrow, it may be us”: a white march to pay tribute to the three Kurds killed in Paris
Audio 01:11
A member of the Kurdish community reacts during a march organized by the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) in tribute to the victims of Friday's deadly attack, in Paris, France, December 26, 2022. REUTERS - SARAH MEYSSONIER
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
A white march in tribute to the three Kurds shot dead on Friday brought together several hundred people this Monday, December 26 in Paris.
The procession set off from the rue d'Enghien, where the attack took place.
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There were several hundred of them marching in the rain, between two streets in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, rue d'Enghien and rue Lafayette.
Two streets where the Kurdish community was struck in its heart nine years apart.
In this district, three activists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) were killed on January 9, 2013. A case that has still not been resolved, which reinforces the emotion and the feeling of injustice within the Kurdish community today, when the track of
a racist crime
committed by a single man seems privileged compared to that of the terrorist attack.
The procession set off from the rue d'Enghien, where small altars had been erected on the spot where the attack took place
in which three Kurds died
on Friday, December 23.
Between the slogans "
our martyrs do not die
" or "
women, life, freedom
", Evrim, a young French woman of Kurdish origin, recounts her sadness and despair.
“
I started crying right away.
I said to myself,
"but is it still happening?"
.
It's a street where we go all the time as a family.
Tomorrow, it may be us
, ”she testifies.
We are asking for justice in relation to what happened.
For the moment, what has been retained is the racist character.
And we are absolutely not convinced of that.
White March in Paris: Evrim wants the truth
Eric Chaurin
A feeling of sadness
They sometimes came as a family, like Yusuf, 38, in France for 6 years.
"
I'm here with my family, my wife, my daughter too
," he said.
Why is he here today?
“
We are demonstrating for the three people killed.
We are sad!
“, he assures.
The sadness is shared by Omer, a 26-year-old student, who was granted political refugee status only a few months ago.
“
The last attacks were against the Kurds.
I am Kurdish.
Frankly, it's sad.
There is a sense of responsibility
,” he says.
A feeling of responsibility which is coupled with a feeling of injustice and insecurity for this 20-year-old girl, whose family thought she had found refuge in France.
“
If we fled the damage of Turkey and the terror of the Turks, it was to take refuge in France.
It's not to be murdered here too
, ”she explains, wishing to remain anonymous.
And yet that is what happened to Emine Kara.
She, who had fought the Islamic State in Syria, is one of the three victims of the deadly attack which occurred last Friday in Paris.
Franco-Turkish tensions
After the attack, the Kurds of France blamed Turkey.
During the demonstrations following the killing, PKK flags and accusations against Turkey were visible.
A position that irritated the Turkish authorities who summoned the French ambassador.
According to the official Anadolu news agency, the French ambassador would have been told of Ankara's "discomfort" in the face of "anti-Turkey propaganda from circles close to the PKK".
Turkey deplores that “French government officials as well as certain politicians serve as instruments for this propaganda”, reports our correspondent in Istanbul,
Anne Andlauer.
Ankara has long accused France and other European states of harboring individuals and NGOs linked to the PKK on their soil and of tolerating the activities of this classified terrorist group.
And Turkey did not appreciate either the headlines of the French press making the hypothesis of links between its secret services and the attack.
These articles recall in particular the gray areas that continue to surround the 2013 assassination.
►Also read: Kurds killed in Paris: the alleged shooter charged and imprisoned
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Kurds killed in Paris: the alleged shooter charged and imprisoned