Kemal Kurkut has been remembered in Amed. The Kurdish student was shot dead by a Turkish policeman on the sidelines of the celebrations on Newroz 2017. HDP Co-chair Mithat Sancar, teacher Başak Demirtaş, who is the wife of imprisoned HDP politician Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chair of the HDP's sister party DBP, Keskin Bayındır, members of parliament Imam Taşçıer, Dersim Dağ, Garo Paylan and Semra Güzel, and other people took part in the commemoration at his place of death on the street named after journalist and writer Evrim Alataş, who died in 2010.

Kemal Kurkut was 23 years old when he was killed on March 21, 2017, on the sidelines of traditional Newroz celebrations in the Kurdish resistance stronghold of Amed. Authorities then claimed that the music student was a "suicide bomber" who allegedly tried to run into a crowd at the entrance to the festival site. Before he could reach them, he was "stopped" by shots fired by the police, they claimed. The fatal bullet hit the young man in the back near the heart.

Two days later, the now-banned DIHA news agency published pictures by photojournalist Abdurrahman Gök that proved a different sequence of events. Gök had pressed the shutter eight times and documented that Kemal Kurkut's death was premeditated murder. His killer remains on duty. In November, he was even acquitted.

"Four years ago, in this very spot, the body of a young man fell to the ground. He had come to this place with joy and passion, but bullets pierced him. Everyone saw this murder," Mithat Sancar said in a moving speech. The bullets fired at Kemal Kurkut were directed against peace, the politician continued. "Even when he said goodbye, he had a smile on his face. This smile is still alive in our lives. It is our duty to realize his aspirations. Those who murdered him have not been brought to justice. My outcry is directed once again against this injustice. Kemal, sleep peacefully. The days you dream of will come. That is what we are here for."