French square to be named after murdered Kurdish politician

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The French city of Lyon will name a square after the Kurdish politician, Hevrin Khalaf, who was killed by Turkish-backed groups in Kurdish-led northeastern Syria in October 2019.

The Lyon City Council unanimously voted on the name on Friday, Middle East Eye reported. An inauguration ceremony will take place later this year, on September 21, it added.

Fanny Dubot, mayor of the seventh borough of Lyon, wrote on social media that the naming of the square would be a tribute to Khalaf. “The city council of #Lyon7 has approved the name of Hevrin Khalaf for the square,” he tweeted.

“This pays homage to the emblematic figure of peace in a country at war. Syrian, Kurdish, and a feminist, murdered at 35 years old. A tribute.”

The Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya group summarily executed Khalaf in mid-October 2019 as part of Ankara’s cross-border offensive. Kurdistan 24 was one of the first to report on the incident on October 12, 2019.

Read More: Senior female Kurdish political leader killed in ambush in Syria

According to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria report last year, one fighter involved in the extrajudicial killing of the Kurdish politician was jailed. The same report also documented multiple verified cases of sexual and gender-based violence by Turkish-backed armed groups in Syrian areas occupied by Turkey. 

Suad Mustafa, the mother of Hevrin Khalaf, told Kurdistan 24 last year that she wants those responsible for her daughter’s murder to appear in front of an international court.

Read More: Mother of slain female Syrian Kurdish politician demands international trial

“A war crime has been committed against humanity, and the very same person who ordered those militants, must be held accountable in a just court,” she stated.