On the morning of September 16, Ferhat Barış Kondu, a patriot from Northern Kurdistan, was attacked at the office of his employer in Sulaymaniyah in a manner reminiscent of the assassinations in Turkey in the 1990s. Ferhat was wanted for his political work in Northern Kurdistan and therefore went to Southern Kurdistan. He survived the attack seriously injured. The assassination was a new form of attack for Sulaymaniyah and foreshadowed further developments.

The second attack followed the next day. Obviously, the perpetrators had great self-confidence and were encouraged by certain forces. PKK revolutionary Şükrü Serhat (Yasin Bulut), who dedicated his entire life to the Kurdish liberation struggle, was assassinated from behind with four shots at around nine in the morning. According to local sources, the attack took place in an organized manner. In addition to the assassin, three people were at the scene to observe and secure the attack. After the crime, the shooter fled the scene together with these three people in a Toyota pickup truck. From the course of the crime it is clear that the killers are well acquainted with the city, familiar with the security situation and were able to build various assistance. That Şükrü Serhat would step unaccompanied on the street at that moment had been calculated beforehand. The escape route was also obviously determined.

On September 18, the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) news service Zanyarî announced that a perpetrator had been apprehended and numerous clues had been seized that could be used to clarify the background. The arrested person is said to be the perpetrator who shot Ferhat Barış Kondu two days earlier. There are still no leads on the assassins in the Şükrü Serhat murder case. No statement has been made about the perpetrators and their clients either. Given the volatile situation in Kurdistan and the significance of the assassination, the PUK should have issued a statement immediately. The capture of the perpetrators and the clarification of the background are an obligation of the PUK to the Kurdish people. So far, no such statement has been issued. However, the PUK's expressions of condolences that have been made give hope and are in line with a patriotic attitude that befits the party and the city. However, there are still some things that need to be done urgently.

The two successive attacks are the latest incidents within the machinations that the Turkish state and the PDK have been conducting together in Sulaymaniyah for a long time. That deliberate provocations and attempted massacres would occur in the course of the tense conditions in Sulaymaniyah was a predictable development. Unfortunately, this predictability was not enough to protect such a great revolutionary as Şükrü Serhat. Now, the most important thing is to find the right answers and to name the goal and those behind the assassination in order to prevent further attacks and provocations from coming to nothing. If this fails to happen, these attacks will become a concept that will take the occupation of Kurdistan to a new level.

Of course, it is not only the tranquility in the city of Sulaymaniyah, which is important for all four parts of Kurdistan, that has been attacked, as some circles have expressed it. Such an assessment would be naïve and would fail to recognize the ideological and political context. Kurdistan is under attack every minute and is under occupation, so how can there be talk of calm? Can there be tranquility in a region where fascism reigns and the fingers of this system reach out everywhere? Although every day legends of resistance against the cruel attacks are written and so many young people are the price of it, there is no calm anywhere in Kurdistan. Is there not rather anger instead of calm? Has the patriotic population of Sulaymaniyah been able to sleep in peace while dozens of young people have fallen in the mountains? The most that can be said is the calm that reigns in the consciences of those who resist. Only the PKK stands for the hope of tranquility, which at the same time represents the hope of the Kurdish people for freedom and is under attack. Not only in Sulaymaniyah, but in the whole Kurdistan, the tranquility depends on the resistance of the PKK against the Turkish occupiers. The people of Southern Kurdistan, and especially the people of Sulaymaniyah, know very well that freedom is the prerequisite for calm.

This attack was a clear signal to the Kurdish people that hope for freedom will not be tolerated. It was like a nail with which hopelessness is to be hammered into the minds and hearts of society. The angry cry of the "time for freedom" campaign is intended to be turned into rueful wailing with this attack. People are intended to be made to renounce freedom and capitulate.

Moreover, it is a sinister betrayal of those who have lost themselves, their hope for freedom and their national values for a long time and are oriented only to power and profit. Has any result been achieved by this? Certainly not!

At the same time, the assassins have also targeted the national unity for which Sulaymaniyah has always been a place of hope. The attack has been directed against the attitude of the people of this city who have been insisting on national unity against the line of occupation and surrender for a long time and resisting against a fratricidal war and collaboration with the Turkish state. The attack aims to put Sulaymaniyah in the same state as Hewlêr (Erbil). As many forces, organizations, parties and people as possible are wanted to be dragged into the abyss of betrayal.

The aim of this widely organized attack, which is undoubtedly based on the cooperation between the Turkish state and the KDP, is obvious. It has the same goal as the occupation of Rojava, Metîna, Zap and Avaşîn. This goal is wanted to be enforced by all means. The resistance, freedom, democracy and unity are wanted to lose as a result.

The people of Kurdistan are being put to the test. Kurdish patriotism faces the task of standing behind the guerrillas, who have been fighting almost alone until now, and resisting the sinister massacres. If the Kurdish people, their organized forces and especially the people of Sulaymaniyah and Southern Kurdistan decide to resist and stick to their stance for freedom, democracy and unity, they will win. Freedom will win. Then perhaps Sulaymaniyah will also become a fortress of national unity and the fallen revolutionary Şükrü Serhat will become the symbol of this unity. There will be no room for hopelessness and pessimism; hope will always be stronger. When that happens, peace will also come.