The Co-Presidency of the KCK Executive Council has issued a condolence message following the passing of Sırrı Süreyya Önder, a member of the Imrali Delegation of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party. 

 

KCK message reads as follows:  

 

"It was with great sadness that we learned that the esteemed Sirri Sureyya Onder, who had been treated in intensive care for 18 days following a severe heart attack, gave his life. Although his condition was described by his doctors as very serious, we, like everyone else, still had the belief and expectation that the esteemed Sirri Sureyya Onder would be able to overcome this condition. Unfortunately, this did not happen. So unfortunately, a very valuable son of our peoples, from whom Turkey had high expectations and who had made significant contributions to the struggle for freedom, democracy, and peace, has unfortunately passed away. We would like to express our deepest sorrow for the loss of such a valuable person who put so much effort into this struggle. We extend our condolences to his family and relatives, to all his loved ones, friends, colleagues, the art-cinema community, the DEM Party to which he belonged, and our peoples. We respectfully bow to his precious memory.

 

'HE WAS A SOCIALIST, REVOLUTIONARY, PATRIOT'

 

Sirri Sureyya Onder was confronted with this serious health setback while carrying out his very valuable work for peace and democracy, and unfortunately, due to it, he gave his life. He is a martyr of the struggle for peace and democracy. Sirri Sureyya Onder was a great person of struggle. He was a socialist, revolutionary, and patriot. His life was spent in the struggle for socialism, democracy, and freedom, and he paid a heavy price for this. He was, on the one hand, an important pioneer of the socialist movement and the struggle for socialism in Turkey, and on the other hand, he was always in solidarity with the Kurdish people and was an important actor in this struggle. Throughout his life, he succeeded in uniting the struggle of two peoples, thus realizing the most desired and longed-for ideal in Turkey, and he made great contributions to social development with his artistic personality and work. Through his art, he dealt with social reality in a bold and aesthetic way, questioned the existing, and helped develop a depth of thought.

 

With his life, his art, and his struggle for socialism and democracy, the esteemed Sirri Sureyya Onder, whose positive qualities can hardly be described in any words, has represented the legacy of pioneers like Mahir Cayan, Deniz Gesmish, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, and Yilmaz Guney and has played a crucial role in ensuring that this very legacy continues today. We commemorate him with respect and bow once again in front of his precious memory. He gave his life in the month of May, which is the month of the martyrs. On this occasion, we also commemorate the martyrs of May and all the martyrs of the revolution and the struggle for democracy with respect and gratitude.

 

'BEST WAY TO VALUE HIS MEMORY TO DEVELOP STRUGGLE FOR PEACE'

 

The esteemed Sirri Sureyya Onder was carrying out and pioneering the important struggle for peace. In view of the fact that he, together with his colleagues and friends, had done so much and such great work towards peace to date, there had still been great expectations of him. While feeling the great pain of losing him, we want to underline that the best way to value his memory is to develop the struggle for peace and democracy he led and bring it to a conclusion. Out of respect for him and our commitment to his ideals, we state that we will make any effort for this. We thereby call on everyone to increase their efforts in the struggle for peace and democracy and the struggle as an expression of attachment to the precious memory of Sirri Sureyya Onder to bring it to conclusion and make it a success."