He had come to negotiate; it was his interlocutors who killed him. General Secretary of the main Kurdish political movement in Iran after the Islamic revolution, he was assassinated in Vienna in 1989 during talks with representatives of the Iranian government. His successor would be killed in turn.
The story
He had come to negotiate. On 13 July 1989, in Vienna, Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou was meeting representatives of the Iranian government for talks. He was shot dead in the course of the session — the envoys who had come to discuss had come to kill. The fact has remained as one of the most cynical political assassinations of the period.
Born at Urmia, in north-western Iran, in 1930, he led as secretary general the country's principal Kurdish political movement in the years that followed the Islamic revolution of 1979.
His successor, Sadegh Sharafkandi, would in turn be assassinated, in Berlin in 1992, in the Mykonos attack. The two secretaries general of the same party lie at Père-Lachaise, a few divisions apart — one in Division 76, the other in Division 42.
On site, do not miss
His successor Sadegh Sharafkandi, murdered in Berlin three years after him, lies in Division 42.
Visitors' questions
Where is Ghassemlou's grave?
In Division 76 of Père-Lachaise. His successor Sadegh Sharafkandi, murdered three years after him, lies in Division 42 — two secretaries-general of the same party in the same cemetery.
Sadegh SharafkandiHow did he die?
Murdered in Vienna in 1989, and in circumstances that were not forgotten: he had come to negotiate with representatives of the Iranian government, and it was those envoys who killed him. The case stands as one of the most cynical political murders of the period.
Ahmet KayaWhat did he lead?
The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the country's chief Kurdish political movement, of which he was secretary-general in the years after the Islamic revolution of 1979. He was born at Urmia, in north-western Iran, in 1930.
Yilmaz GüneyDo two Kurdish leaders lie here?
They do: Ghassemlou in Division 76 and his successor Sharafkandi in Division 42, both murdered — one in Vienna in 1989, the other in Berlin in 1992, in the Mykonos killing.
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