A solidarity action on January 9 called for justice for Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez murdered in Paris by agents of the Turkish state on January 9, 2013.
It was organised by the Democratic Kurdish Community Centre. Actions was organised globally between January 5–9 to mark the anniversary.
Cansiz was a founding member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Dogan was a member of the Kurdish National Congress (KNK) and Saylemez was a member of the Kurdish youth movement.
Co-chair of the Democratic Kurdish Community Centre Gule Rose read out a statement from the Kurdish Women’s Movement in Europe. “The patriarchal system is targeting women with its fascist mentality … in attempts to disorganise and intimidate them. By massacring women pioneers such as Karima Baloch in Canada, Forouzan Safi in Afghanistan, Zara Alarez in the Philippines, Hanan Al Barassi in Lybia and Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez in Paris, the patriarchal system wrongly assumes it can intimidate women’s revolution.
“For nine years there have been calls for the perpetrators of the Paris massacre to be brought to trial. While all evidence has pointed to the Turkish state and the AKP government, led by Tayyip Erdoğan, and the first case investigation firmly concluded that the massacre was orchestrated by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT), the French government closed the case on the grounds the hitman had died.”
Rose said that remembering the Paris massacre will help strengthen women’s solidarity against fascism, patriarchy and femicide and “show the world that women’s revolution and resistance transcend borders and cannot be inhibited”.