Kejal Abdouli
Testifies Before Congressional Human Rights Caucus

Statement of Ms. Kejal Abdouli wife of Mr. Fatah Abdouli one of 
                the victims of the Mykonos Restaurant

[Editor's note: On June 10, 1997, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus 
held a hearing on the state-sponsored terrorism by Iran.  The following is the 
testimony of Mrs. Kejal Abdouli who lost her husband in Mykonos 
Restaurant in Berlin, Germany.]

Mr. Chairman/Ladies and Gentlemen, 

We are gathered here today not only to denounce terrorism, rampant 
throughout the world, and to remember all those who fell under its blind or 
willful blows, but also to look for solutions to put an end to this means of 
expression, undoubtedly the most cowardly and revolting one can think of.       
        If I am standing here before you, it is because I am indirect but a broken 
hearted victim of terrorism, and if I could strengthen your determination of 
fighting terrorism by giving you my testimony, it would make me feel happy 
and useful.
        My name is Kejal; I am the widow of Fattah Abdouli, who was the 
representative in Paris of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, and who, 
together with the Secretary-general of our party, Dr. Said Sharafkandi, and 
two other comrades, were assassinated on 17 September 1992 in Berlin's 
Mykonos Restaurant, barely a few hours after they had attended the Congress 
of the Socialist International that was being held on that city.
        You may ask yourselves "why them"? or "why in a foreign country, so 
far away from Kurdistan, the need to fight the leaders of the Kurdish people?"
        The answer is simple: for many decades, the Kurds have been fighting 
to be granted their most fundamental rights and suffering multiple 
repression and persecution.  The Islamic Republic of Iran, in particular, never 
hid its hatred for the Kurdish people and its leading political formation, the 
democratic party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI).  The Iranian regime has 
repeatedly and openly said that it would do everything possible to physically 
eliminate all KDPI leaders, wherever they might be, in order to put a final 
end to the existence of this party.
        Why this relentless pursuit?  What crimes has the KDPI committed to 
deserve such persecution?
        Here again, the answer is simple:  our party clearly voiced the claims of 
the Kurdish people who, like all the peoples of the world, aspire to freedom.  
The KDPI also maintains that the only way to reach that objective is through 
the establishment of democracy in Iran and autonomy for Kurdistan.  At the 
end of the 20th century, don't you think these are natural and justified 
demands?
        However, inside the Islamic Republic, "willing to live" is tantamount 
to "willing to die", and what the mullahs call "freedom" is nothing but a 
uniform way of life imposed on all the country's citizens.  Recently, elections 
were held in Iran; a so called liberal and moderate mullah was elected 
president.  Don't be mistaken: a mere change of person at the head of the state 
will not be able to modify the situation inside the country nor influence 
Iran's foreign policy. And please mark my words: as long as no solution is 
found to the Kurdish issue in Iran, terrorism will remain thriving.
        Of course part of Iranian behavior is related to western tolerance of it.  I 
ask myself what are the results of all these meetings and seminars?  Are there 
any serious international reactions?  For how long will the international 
community avoid the truth?  Why is the response of Western public opinion 
is silence?  What steps have they taken to fight terrorism on their soil?  How 
long will the blood of the innocent be sacrificed for the sake of economic 
interests?  For how long the lives of Kasemlous, Sharafkandis, Abdoulis, 
Kaderis, Ardalans and the rest of freedom fighters, because they are Kurds and 
seek freedom for their people even in foreign lands, are not spared?  Maybe if 
it were not for the result of the Mykonos trial, still there would have been 
doubts about Iranian involvement in terrorism.

Friends,

As a member of the families of victims, I expect the international terrorism be 
stopped at least in those countries which adhere to democratic principles.

        Let us come back to my personal case.  I believe that those who are 
killed by the assassins' bullets are not the sole victims of terrorism.  It is true 
that they lose their most precious possession, LIFE, but when they leave this 
world, they also leave other victims behind, the survivors and witnesses of 
the bloody nightmare.
        As long as I live, I will never forget that night of September 1992.  I had 
been in Paris for a year and a half, together with our baby son, and I still felt 
like a stranger in an unknown country.  In the middle of the night, I was 
awakened by the strident ring of the telephone-and then I was told that the 
person I loved most, my husband, my companion in happiness and 
misfortune, was gone, never to come back.
        I don't know whether you can grasp the horror of what happened next.  
I had to wake my four-year-old son, the only loved one left to me, and unable 
to control the pain I left, I cried out to him that his father, his favorite hero, 
whom he waited for so impatiently every evening, standing behind the door 
and listening for the sound of the elevator, eager to throw his arms around 
his neck, was gone forever.
        I was in a foreign country without any family or relatives to share my 
grief or hear my cries of pain, and I thought there was no more place for me 
in this world, that I didn't have the right to go on living.  I had only one 
wish: to be reunited with my husband in death.  But the little boy who was 
clinging to me, the meaning of my husbands life-long fight and the thought 
of his many friends who are still fighting for our freedom brought me back to 
my senses.  I told myself I had to go on in order to bear witness whenever and 
wherever I could and to denounce terrorism relentlessly.

Mr. Chairman/ Ladies and Gentleman,

You will understand that it is very difficult for me to tell you all that I felt and 
went through at the moment and afterwards.  Feelings so deep and intimate 
that they cannot possibly be put on a piece of paper.  The loss of one's dearest 
beloved inflicts a wound so deep that it never really heals - even when it may 
seem so to the outside world.  Memories come back, obsessively, and 
constantly pull you back into the past.
        Each morning, one has to take a fresh heart and push oneself to keep 
fighting, for fear of seeing terrorism crow over its continuing victories and 
rejoice in the death of freedom.
        The other day, my nine year old son asked me: "How was it possible for 
my father one of the heroes of our people, to be killed so easily?"  I told him:  
"Listen carefully:  your father and his friends were peace, justice and 
democracy-loving Kurds.  But their enemies did not acknowledge that they 
had the right to live; like cowards, they hid in the dark and lay in wait for 
their victims, killing them when they least expected it."
        And then I added:  "Human beings must learn to love and respect one 
another.  But as long as we Kurds will not be allowed to live and breath in 
freedom, as long as we will not be granted our fundamental rights and our 
cultural and political identity, we will go on fighting".

Long Live Kurdistan!