French square named after murdered Syrian Kurdish politician inaugurated
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The French city of Lyon inaugurated the square named after the Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf, who was killed by Turkish-backed groups in Kurdish-led northeastern Syria in October 2019, on Tuesday.
The Lyon City Council unanimously voted to name the square after Khalaf back in July.
Lyon Councillor Sonia Zdorovtzoff, who is responsible for the city’s international relations, posted photos of the inauguration and tweeted that Khalaf “worked throughout her short life for a democratic, plural, and decentralized Syria.”
À #Lyon, une place porte désormais le nom d’Hevrin Khalaf (1984-2019), une femme de grand mérite, une femme d’exception : syrienne, kurde, ingénieure, féministe et femme politique, elle a œuvré tout au long de sa courte vie pour une Syrie démocratique, plurielle et décentralisée. pic.twitter.com/TTcXUq0IAs
— Sonia Zdorovtzoff (@SZdorovtzoff) September 21, 2021
Fanny Dubot, mayor of the seventh borough of Lyon, earlier 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 news organizations to report 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 perpetrated by Turkish-backed armed groups in the parts of Syria 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.