ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The French city of Lyon will name a square after Syrian Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf, killed by Turkish backed-militants in 2019, the mayor’s office has confirmed to Rudaw English.
A square in the city’s 7th arrondissement will be named “Place Hevrin Khalaf” in tribute to the well-respected politician and women’s rights advocate, who was murdered by militants as Turkish-backed proxies launched an incursion into northeast Syria (Rojava) in October 2019.
The decision was voted on by the municipal council this week, the mayor’s press office said, with an inauguration to take place in September.
Khalaf was killed by Turkish-backed fighters during Operation Peace Spring, in which proxies seized control of stretch of land between Gire Spi (Tal Abyad) and Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) in the semi-autonomous region. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced by the offensive.
Several Lyon officials have paid tribute to Khalaf since the decision was announced.
“A tribute to this emblematic figure of the peace camp in a country at war,” tweeted Fanny Dubot, mayor of the city’s 7th arrondissement, who supported the proposal.
Last year, the BBC released a documentary on Khalaf and her death, suspected to be at the hands of Ahrar al-Sharqiya, a faction of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army.
The 34-year-old was Secretary General of the Future Syria part, and was widely praised for her championing of women’s rights and outreach to other ethnic groups in
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