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İsmail Hakkı Pekin, a former intelligence chief with the Turkish General Staff, has inadvertently strengthened suspicions about the involvement of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in the killing of three Kurdish women in Paris in 2013.
Outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) founding member Sakine Cansız, Kurdistan Information Bureau (KNK) Paris representative Fidan Doğan and Leyla Söylemez, who was a member of the Kurdish youth movement, were murdered in their Paris bureau on Jan. 9, 2013. Suspect Ömer Güney died in prison on Dec. 17, 2016, a few weeks before his trial at the Paris Criminal Court. However, the case was closed due to Güney’s death under suspicious circumstances.
Pekin, who was a guest on CNN Türk earlier this week, was talking about the presence of PKK elements in Europe when he apparently unwittingly revealed the possible MİT role in the Paris killings.
“We need to do something against PKK elements in Europe. It was done before in Paris, but, yes…” said Pekin, in remarks that were interpreted by local Turkish media as an acknowledgement of MİT’s involvement in the Paris killings.
Pekin’s remarks come at a time of growing public anger about the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US, due to the recent killing of 13 Turkish nationals at the hands of the PKK in northern Iraq.
Turkey claims the hostages — most of whom were security force members — were killed by the PKK while the PKK claims they were killed in aerial strikes of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), which launched an operation in the region on Feb. 10 to rescue the hostages.
Despite the fact that Güney was the only suspect in remand, the investigation had found some evidence that MİT had a role in the Paris assassinations. The probe had not identified the perpetrators who gave the order; however, signs showed links to Ankara.