Filmmaker Karimiyan buried in Sulaymaniyah

Eastern Kurdistan director Mansour Karimiyan, who was killed in the attacks by the Turkish state against Rojava, was buried in Sulaymaniyah.

Eastern Kurdistan director Mansour Karimiyan fell as a martyr after the air attack carried out by the Turkish state against Rojava on 23 December 2023. After Iran prevented Karimiyan’s family from burying their son in Eastern Kurdistan, they decided o bury him in Sulaymaniyah on Sunday.

The funeral ceremony held at Şêx Abbas Cemetery in Sulaymaniyah started with a minute of silence in memory of the Kurdistan Freedom martyrs.

Şerko Heme Emin read a message on behalf of KNK, saying: "We express our condolences to the family of the martyr and all our people. Mansur Karimiyan's martyrdom shows that the fate of all Kurds is the same. He was born in Rojhilat, fell a martyr in Rojava, and was buried in South Kurdistan."

Sulaymaniyah Governor Heval Ebubekir said: “We are in mourning today. We should not remain weak. Unfortunately, we do not develop our unity and solidarity and do not act together. We have not been able to put forward a common and national program for the past hundred years."

Tevgera Azadi's message was also read at the funeral. It stated that Martyr Mansour Karimiyan served Kurdish art.

A message from Eastern Kurdistan cinema artists said: "The Turkish state is the main enemy of the Kurdish people in the Middle East."

Speaking on behalf of Martyr Karimiyan's family, Yunus Karimiyan said: “We made many attempts to bury our martyr in the land where he was born. However, the Iranian regime did not allow us to do that. Therefore, we decided to bury him here. The people of Sine and Sulaymaniyah are the children of the same mother. This mother is Kurdistan.”

A message shared on behalf of the Rojava Film Commune and Bashur Culture and Arts institutions, said: “We promise to continue the struggle of our martyrs. We worked with Martyr Mansour, and we know very well how devoted he was to Kurdish culture and art."