Kemal Pir, also known as Laz Kemal (1952 in Güzeloluk, Gümüşhane Province – 7 September 1982 in Diyarbakır, Turkey) was a Turkish Marxist–Leninist revolutionary and one of the ethnically Turkish founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.[1]
Kemal Pir | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 |
| Died | September 7, 1982 (aged 29–30) |
| Cause of death | Hunger strike |
| Other names | Laz Kemal |
| Alma mater | Ankara University |
| Political party | Kurdistan Workers' Party |
In the early 1970s he studied at Faculty of Literature of Hacettepe University. Influenced by the revolutionary movement led by Abdullah Öcalan, he left the university.[2]
In 1972, living together with Haki Karer in the same house, they received Öcalan after he was released from Mamak prison.[3] At the foundation meeting of the PKK in November 1978, he was elected a member of the central committee.
He was arrested in Batman in 1979 and imprisoned in the Diyarbakir Prison.[2] During his trial he declared that the PKK would begin a peoples revolt when the time was right.[4] While on hunger strike in prison, he was asked by the head of prison "Don't you love life, Kemal?" and famously answered: "We love life so much we are prepared to die for it."[5] He died due to a hunger strike in 1982.[3]
References
edit- ^ Eray Çaylı (2015). "Diyarbakır's "witness sites" and discourses". In Zeynep Gambetti; Joost Jongerden (eds.). The Kurdish Issue in Turkey: A Spatial Perspective. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-138-82415-7.
- ^ a b Orhan, Mehmet (2016). Political Violence and Kurds in Turkey: Fragmentations, Mobilizations, Participations & Repertoires. Routledge. p. 113. ISBN 9781317420439.
- ^ a b Jongerden, Joost (2012). "The Kurdistan Workers Party and a New Left in Turkey: Analysis of the revolutionary movement in Turkey through the PKK's memorial text on Haki Karer". edepot.wur.nl. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ Casier, Marlies; Jongerden, Joost (13 September 2010). Nationalisms and Politics in Turkey: Political Islam, Kemalism and the Kurdish Issue. Routledge. p. 131. ISBN 9781136938672.
- ^ Ali Kemal Özcan (2006). Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Ocalan. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-36687-9.
- ^ Topçu, Özlem (18 June 2015). "Türkei-Wahl: Ein Deutscher gegen Erdoğan". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 16 January 2019.