Leyla Söylemez (1 January 1989 – 9 January 2013) was a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

lawyer, militant and activist. She was an area manager of the

PKK The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or the PKK, isDespite the PKK's 12th Congress announcing plans for total organisational dissolution, the PKK has not yet been dissolved de facto or de jure. a Kurdish militant political organization and armed gue ...

youth organisation. Her

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

was Ronahî. In Turkey, Leyla Şöylemez had an arrest warrant issued against her on charges of "membership of a terrorist organization". In Turkey, there was an arrest warrant in absentia for Leyla Söylemez on the charge of "membership in a freedom defense organization", but Söylemez was wanted only in Turkey.

Background

She fled to Germany in the 1990s together with her family and lived in Halle, where she studied architecture. But she did not graduate, in order to become more involved in politics.

Assassination

Söylemez, along with

Sakine Cansız Sakine Cansız (; , ; 1958 – 9 January 2013) was one of the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party also recognised as a terrorist organisation by the EU and NATO countries. Australia and NZ have also designated it is a terrorist org ...

and

Fidan Doğan Fidan Doğan (17 January 1982 – 9 January 2013) was a Kurdish activist who worked at the Kurdish information centre in Paris and also represented the Brussels-based Kurdish National Congress in France. Biography Born in Elbistan in sou ...

were assassinated in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 9 January 2013. She was shot in the head with a silenced weapon at the Kurdish Information Centre in Paris. Within a week of the assassination, Ömer Güney was detained by the French police. After questioning him they suspected him of being involved in the murder and put him in pretrial detention. By January 21, he was the main suspect as television closed circuit images showed he was at the premises the day of the murder. In December 2016, a month before the trial would have begun, Güney died from a tumor in a hospital in Paris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soylemez, Leyla 1989 births 2013 deaths Assassinated activists Assassinated Kurdish people Assassinations in France Deaths by firearm in France Dicle University alumni Female murder victims 21st-century Kurdish people 21st-century Kurdish women Kurdish activists Kurdish women activists People from Mersin People murdered in Paris Turkish Kurdish people Unsolved murders in France

Background

Assassination

See also

References