Kurdish and revolutionary artist Yilmaz Güney was remembered by his grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in French capital Paris on the 36th anniversary of his death.

A joint statement was read during the ceremony in the name of ACTİT, ADHK, ATIK PARİS, BİR-KAR, PDD, Partizan, CDK-F, ODAK.

The crowd vowed to give a revolutionary struggle in the field of art against the capitalist and imperialist system.

The attendees also promised to enhance the struggle, chanting “Yilmaz Güney is immortal” and “Martyrs of revolution are immortal”.

The ceremony ended with a musical performance. 

When we say Kurdish Cinema it is not possible not to mention the great Kurdish director Yilmaz Güney who died in France in 1984. Güney, who was a leftist director from Kurdish background in Turkey, had portrayed the plea of Kurdish people in his films such as Seyithan (1968), Umut (1970), Endise (1974), Suru (1978) and Yol (1982).

Although at the time it wasn’t legally possible to openly mention of Kurds in the films in Turkey, he had mostly chosen the Kurdish people as a subject matter. By that he was able to show the big gap between Kurdish people and Turkish state and the sufferings of Kurds under the Turkish regime.

Güney was a very influential and creative director during his life and that’s why his films left tremendous scars in the Kurdish people’s conscious. For this reason every contemporary Kurdish director always sees him as a legend and try to make a film as good as him.