The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) held its 12th Extraordinary Congress between May 5 and 7 following Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s February 27 ‘Call for Peace and a Democratic Society’.

The final declaration of the congress, published by ANF earlier today, announced the martyrdom of two leading cadres of the PKK, Fuat-Ali Haydar Kaytan on July 3, 2018, and Riza Altun on September 25, 2019. 

The PKK Congress was dedicated to Kaytan and Altun.

The first memorial service for Ali Haydar Kaytan and Rıza Altun will be held on May 13, 14, and 15 in the Tuzluçayır neighborhood of Ankara.

Other memorial services will be held at Seyît Rıza Square in Dêrsim on May 17 and at Şêx Seîd (Dağkapı) Square in Amed (tr: Diyarbakır) on May 18.

Other memorial events are planned to be organized in many cities, with the participation of the families of both martyrs.

Ali Haydar Kaytan

Ali Haydar Kaytan (born 26 March 1952 in the Nazımiye district of Dersim, martyred 3 July 2018), also known as Fuad, was a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a member of the executive council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). He was among the early members of a group along with Abdullah Öcalan, Haki Karer, Mazlum Doğan and Cemîl Bayik which held regular ideological meetings from 1973 onwards and which would later become known as the "Kurdistan Revolutionaries”.  He later was among the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, and was sent by Leader Öcalan to Europe to raise support. In 1988, he was arrested as a part of the infamous Düsseldorf trials and carried out a strong resistance while in prison, went on a hunger strike several times in protest of the pre-trial detention conditions.  He then returned to Kurdistan and became a member of the co-presidency council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). He is remembered as one of the early comrades of Leader Öcalan, and a symbol of loyalty to the leadership, truth and free life.

Riza Altun

Rıza Altun (born on January 1, 1956, in Qeyserî, martyred September 25, 2019) was a founding member of the PKK, involved in the Kurdish political struggle since the late 1970s. He was imprisoned from 1980 to 1995, and played a crucial role in the prison resistance of the period. He held various leadership roles within the organization, including overseeing its operations in Iran and Europe as well as leading the PKK's Political Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee. He is remembered as a symbol of all those who walk together in comradeship on the road to freedom.