While thousands of people in Turkey, Kurdistan in Europe are publicly mourning deceased Kurdish fighters, an event in Hannover has been broken up by police. This happens at a time when a peace process is opening up new political possibilities.

Police in Hannover deployed a large contingent on Sunday to crack down on a Kurdish commemoration event at the Kurdish association in Kornstraße. Officers wearing helmets and protective gear entered the building, brought the gathering to an end and spent hours recording the personal details of 96 people present. On Monday, the police headquarters said the raid had been based on a judicial search warrant. Media representatives were denied access during the operation.

The state capital had previously banned the event throughout the city. According to the Kurdish news agency Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê (ANF), the police had therefore prevented an initial attempt to hold the commemoration. The participants subsequently moved to the centre.

The Kurdish umbrella organisation KON-MED describes the gathering as a memorial service for relatives and friends of fighters who died in Kurdistan. The city of Hannover saw it as being linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Umbrella organisation calls for consequences

“It was about people who wanted to mourn together and commemorate the deceased,” ANF quoted the umbrella organisation as saying. Responding with an operation of this kind was unacceptable. Many relatives of those killed by the Turkish military lived in Germany and wanted to come together to say their farewells. KON-MED accuses the security authorities of treating Kurdish remembrance as inherently suspicious and is calling for consequences following the operation.

Hannover police have initiated numerous criminal proceedings on suspicion of violations of the Law on Associations. Participants also reported that several people had suffered fainting spells. According to the police, emergency medical personnel treated five people on the premises.

The ongoing peace process between the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement was also a factor behind the commemoration. Since the process began, the identities of numerous deceased guerrilla fighters have been made public, KON-MED explains. As a result, many memorial services have been held across Europe in recent weeks. Thousands of people have also publicly paid their respects in North Kurdistan and Turkey. KON-MED describes it as shameful that such events are possible there, while in Germany a commemoration of this kind is prevented by a police operation.

Similar events took place in Kurdistan, Turkey and Europe

A ban on PKK activities has been in force in Germany since 1993, and since 2010 membership has been prosecuted under Section 129b of the Criminal Code. Just a few days after the Turkish parliament adopted amnesty provisions for PKK members, the German Ministry of the Interior under Alexander Dobrindt (Christian Social Union) confirmed, in response to an enquiry from “nd”, that the German government had no intention of scaling back the prosecution of Kurdish activists in Germany despite the peace process in Turkey.

According to ANF, commemorative events with up to 2,000 participants also took place in the German cities Bergisch Gladbach, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin. The reports make no mention of police operations at these events. In the evening, a small gathering was also held to protest against the police’s heavy-handed approach in Hannover.

In Bergisch Gladbach, family members also spoke at the weekend, including the mother of Baran Nûjiyan Salema, who grew up in Germany and whose death was announced in August 2025. His brother linked the commemoration to the current political phase surrounding efforts to resolve the Kurdish question: “Today, we are at a historic point. We are in a period in which a new path is opening up before us. But this period demands that we take a stand. It does not demand that we simply turn up and wait, but that we take action and organise ourselves.”

Published in German in „nd“.

Image: Several people suffered fainting spells during the hours-long police operation on Sunday (ANF Deutsch).