Victim of Paris attack killed 28 years after forced displacement

The Kurdish woman killed in the 23 December attack in Paris was a prominent figure in the Kurdish political struggle in Northern Syria, took part in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), and played a role in providing assistance for Yazidi families that fled ISIS's massacres in Sinjar (Shengal) in 2014, Hawar News Agency (ANHA) said.

Emine Kara, also known by the name of Evin Goyi, was born in a village in Turkey's Kurdish-majority border district of Uludere. When she was seventeen, she and her family had been subjected to displacement as the Turkish military forced the residents to leave the village.

Kara joined the Kurdish political struggle, and in 2014 took part in the fight against ISIS, ANHA said, citing a communication by the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organization for several Kurdish political parties.

She was among a group of political activists in Northern Syria, who provided assistance for the Yazidi families that fled from ISIS's massacres.

Ruken Ehmed, co-chair of the Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) in Northern Syria, said Kara "played an important role in building women's organizations and in the struggle to solve women's problems" in the course of the establishment of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

"She lectured in the [women's] academy, organized women's meetings," Ehmed added.

Pervin Yusif, a member of the executive council of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), and a close friend of Kara, told ANHA:

"She taught us how women can lead a struggle. She helped us build up a great courage within ourselves."

Kara, an official of KCK, Mir Perwer (Mehmet Sirin Aydin), a political refugee and artist, and Abdurrahman Kizil were killed on 23 December in Paris in an armed attack that targeted a Kurdish cultural center and nearby shops.

Kara's claim for political asylum in France had earlier been rejected.