Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
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INFORMATION AND UAISON BUUEl'1N 4<br />
Iou a few days prior at the Congress of the International<br />
Socialist In Stockholm, publlcallyexpressed his -pain ..<br />
<strong>and</strong> offered his condolences to Ghassemlou's family<br />
<strong>and</strong> friends.<br />
In contrast to the public reactions, governments have<br />
once more remained silent. Those who were not able to<br />
find words strong enough to stigmatize w~h Just cause<br />
the <strong>de</strong>ath threat on Salman Rushdle by Khomelny or<br />
the hostage crisis (kidnapping of Westerners) by Iranians<br />
or their agents, did not say a word when faced<br />
with a triple mur<strong>de</strong>r perpetrated In the Austrian capital<br />
by representatives of the Iranian state. The French<br />
government exten<strong>de</strong>d sympathy to the Kurdish people<br />
by facilitating the repatriation of the bodies <strong>and</strong> In<br />
diligently granting visas to Kurds wishing to come <strong>and</strong><br />
participate In the funeral services. The services were<br />
organlsed In <strong>Paris</strong> <strong>and</strong> represented was the Secretary<br />
of State for Humanitarian Acts, Bernard Kouchner.<br />
Lionel Jospln, former first secretary of the Socialist<br />
Party, Mlnlsterof State <strong>and</strong> Mlnlsterof National Education,<br />
was also present at the services. This gesture by<br />
the French authorities went straight to the heart of the<br />
Kurds in mourning.<br />
FUNERALS IN PARIS:<br />
A MOMENT OF STRONG KURDISH NATIONAL UNITY<br />
Kurdlstan being in a state of war, the funeral services<br />
for the two lea<strong>de</strong>rs of the Iranian PDK were held in<br />
<strong>Paris</strong>. A chapel of rest was set up at the Kurdish<br />
<strong>Institut</strong>e. There, on ThursdayJuly 20th, from ten o'clock<br />
in the morning to one o'clock in the afternoon, Kurdish<br />
personalities coming directly from countries in the<br />
Near-East, representatives of French, Turkish <strong>and</strong> Iranian<br />
political organisations, <strong>and</strong> European <strong>and</strong> Oriental<br />
intellectuals, all came to pay their last respects.<br />
Kurdish merchants in <strong>Paris</strong> (clothing facotries, restaurants,<br />
shops) closed their doors in a sign of mourning<br />
The funeral procession arrived at La Place <strong>de</strong> la Republique<br />
around two o'clock where a large crowd was<br />
waiting to accompany it in silence all the way to the<br />
Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. After the funeral-orations,<br />
spoken by Bernard Kouchner, French Secretary of<br />
State for Humanitarian Action, Thomas HAMMER-<br />
BERG, former Secretary General of Amnesty International,<br />
current Presi<strong>de</strong>nt of the Swedish Committee for<br />
the Kurdish People, Patrick BAUDOIN, Secretary<br />
General forthe International Fe<strong>de</strong>ration on the Rights<br />
of Man, <strong>and</strong> Abdoullah HASSANZADH, head of the<br />
PDKI <strong>de</strong>legation, the bodies were buried not far from<br />
the "Wall of the Fe<strong>de</strong>rates".<br />
All the Kurdish political organisations of Tul1