On monday evening, December 19, 2016, an assassin drove a van unbrakedly into a crowd at the christmas market close to the Kaiser Wihlem Memorial Church in Berlin. Until now, twelve persons lost their lives due to this attack, another fifty were injured. In the morning of December 21, 2016, fourteen casualties still were in critical condition.
The Kurdish National Council in Syria (KNC) is shocked by this terrorist attack on innocent civilians who wanted to enjoy their free time in anticipation of Christmas, and condemns it in the strongest possible terms. Our thoughts and wishes of consolation are with the victims, their relatives and friends. Furthermore, we call upon the population of Berlin as well as upon the German political class to reject irrational fear, panic and distrust and to rise up together against any form of terrorism and political extremism. Only together we can create a world in which all people can enjoy the right of co-determination, civil liberties and human rights, regardless of their nationality, the colour of their skin, their sex or their religious affiliation.
Kurdish National Council in Syria
21 December 2016