Bodies of three Kurds killed in Paris to be returned home

PARIS, France - The bodies of three Kurds killed in Paris’ December attack will be returned to the Kurdistan Region, and two of them will be buried in southeast Turkey (Bakur), and the other body will be buried in the Kurdistan region. 

In late December, a 69-year-old man attacked the Ahmet Kaya Kurdish Cultural Centre in Rue d'Enghien street, Paris. Three people were killed and three others were injured in the shooting.

“The situation has returned to normal, but the attack worried us,” Salami Pierre, a Paris restaurant owner, told Rudaw’s Znar Shino, adding “It was a terrible  tragedy that happened to the Kurds.”

Paris’ prosecutor office responded to Rudaw's questions saying they are unable to provide any information at this stage as the investigations are confidential.

French police are closely monitoring the area near Ahmet Kaya Kurdish Cultural Centre, where the attack took place.

On Tuesday, a ceremony will be held in Paris to pay tribute to the victims of the incident, and then the bodies will be returned to their homelands.

The Kurdish Democratic Council in Paris is organizing the ceremony, which will be attended by Kurdish residents and other citizens of Paris, activists, and friends of the victims.

The ceremony will last about three hours and the Paris municipality will participate in the event. The bodies will reportedly be sent to Istanbul through a Paris airport on Tuesday night and each of the victims will be buried in their homelands. 

Even though the suspect was charged with “murder” and “attempted murder,” Kurds in Paris continue to hold demonstrations protesting their lack of protection in the French capital, as December’s attack marks the second incident targeting Kurds in Paris in less than a decade.

Three Kurdish activists, including co-founder of PKK Sakine Cansiz, were assassinated at a Kurdish cultural center in Paris in January 2013.