Þerzan Kurt was a Kurdish student who was attacked by police and ultranationalists in Muðla and lost his life on 24 May. Yesterday he was finally lied to rest in his home town, Batman.

His corpse was taken from Istanbul to Batman, where tens of thousand people greeted his body. After the funeral prayer, Þerzan was laid to rest accompanied by slogans like “Þerzan is immortal” and “Biji PKK”.

His father Ömer Kurt said that the bullet fired at his son is a bullet fired at all Kurdish people. He added “Þerzan was singled out because of his name. He was killed because he was Kurd. We want this dirty war to come to an end. The state should think in terms of peace and listen to Kurdish people".

His mother Necla Kurt called out to Kurdish mothers by the grave; “I want you to give your newborn children the name Þerzan. We are going through and unspeakable pain. Our struggle will strengthen with more Þerzans.”

BDP Group Deputy Speaker and Batman PM Ayla Akat wanted the painful scream of the parents to be listend to and said; “Our struggle will strengthen with more Þerzans but this fire will burn everyone. The fire won’t burn only this land and Kurdish people; it will spread everywhere. Þerzan hasn’t died today, he has been made immortal.”

Translator: Berna Ozgencil