Following the defeat of Daesh in Kobane despite them receiving all kinds of support from the fascist Turkish state, hundreds of young people were faced with a massacre on the 20th July 2015 when gathering in Suruç as part of SGDF’s “We protected Kobane together, and together we will rebuild” campaign. The massacre was carried out through means of collaboration between Daesh and the state. Those responsible, just as with other massacres, were protected from prosecution. Those wounded in the massacre, their families and others supporting Kobane were taken to court and arrested.
We commemorate with deep respect the 33 who lost their lives in the Suruç massacre. Their dreams are our dreams and their memory a part of our struggle.
In the Suruç massacre more than 100 young people were wounded, of whom a number suffered permanent, life-changing injuries but nevertheless remain steadfast in their struggle.
The aim of this brutal massacre against the socialist youth who set out to bring the Gezi Resistance together with the Kobanê Resistance and to embrace the Rojava Revolution was to destroy the bridge between peoples and resistance. It was to take revenge on those who carried the Kobanê Resistance and the Rojava Revolution to the four corners of Turkey.
But they were wrong again. Just as Kobanê rose again from its ashes, the socialist youth quickly healed its wounds and continued/is continuing to hold the colonialists, occupiers and fascism to account. With the slogan “Justice for Suruç, Justice for Everyone” and with a united struggle, they demand accountability for all massacres.
The fascist Turkish state, which could not abide the liberation of Kobanê, continued the attacks and arrests against the Suruç wounded, their families and those who embraced the Kobanê resistance after the Suruç massacre. Dozens of Suruç wounded were repeatedly detained and arrested. Efe Çatalbaş, one of those wounded at Suruç, and Besra Erol, the mother of Evrim Deniz Erol, who was martyred in Suruç, have been imprisoned for years.
HDP former co-chairs Figen Yüksekdağ and Selahattin Demirtaş and politicians Alp Altınörs, Ali Ürküt, Aynur Aşan, Bülent Parmaksız, Dilek Yağlı, Günay Kubilay, İsmail Şengül, Nazmi Gür, Pervin Oduncu, Zeynep Ölbeci, who were arrested on November 4, 2016 for embracing the Rojava Revolution and the Kobanê resistance and sentenced to tens of years in prison in the Kobanê Conspiracy Case, are still imprisoned.
As TSP, we call on all antifascist, democratic and progressive sections of Europe to raise the struggle for “Justice for Suruç, Justice for Everyone” on the 9th anniversary and to increase international solidarity against fascism by sending letters and cards to Suruç-Kobanê prisoners.
Prisoners’ addresses:
Efe Çatalbaş: Afyon 1 No’lu T Tipi Cezaevi – Afyon
Besra Erol: Elazığ T Tipi Kapalı Cezaevi – Elazığ
Figen Yüksekdağ: Kandıra 1 Nolu F Tipi Cezaevi A3-15 – Kocaeli
Selahattin Demirtaş: Edirne F Tipi Cezaevi B1-38 – Edirne
Pervin Oduncu: Sincan Kadın Cezaevi C-1 – Ankara
Ali Ürküt, Nazmi Gür: Sincan 2 Nolu F Tipi Yüksek Güvenlikli Cezaevi B2-3-56 – Ankara
Alp Altınörs, Günay Kubilay: Sincan 2 Nolu F Tipi Yüksek Güvenlikli Cezaevi B2-5-64 – Ankara
