The HDP issued a written statement regarding the anniversary of the Amûdê Cinema Massacre, in which more than 250 children died.

 

The statement said: "On 13 November 1960, one of the worse child massacres in the history of humanity opened a great wound in the collective memory of the Kurdish people in Rojava. The massacre of the Amûdê cinema.

 

Nearly 500 Kurdish children from Rojava had been to the cinema for the first time in their lives. Suddenly the curtain on which the film was shown at the Scheherazade Cinema went on fire.”

 

The doors of the cinema were closed and children could not escape. "As a result of the fire that took place in the Scheherazade Cinema in Amûdê, over 250 children, most of whom under 12, burned to death. The statement pointed out that after 60 years since the massacre the truth has not been established and added: "The Syrian government tried to make the people forget about the fire by banning the commemoration of this great tragedy that still hurts the memory of the people of Amûdê."

 

The HDP reminded that "the Amûdê Cinema massacre was the result of hostile policies against Kurdish children and a series of systematic negligence. The assimilation, lack of identity and displacement policies favoured by the regime, materialized in the fire of the Amûdê cinema. Ultimately this fire was the result and mirror of the oppression the Kurdish people were subjected to in Rojava. Today we condemn this massacre again, and call for those responsible to be brought to justice.”