The co-chairperson of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP) has called on the French government to shed light on a deadly attack on a Kurdish culture center in Paris on Friday and expose the mastermind behind it, Turkish media reported.
The armed attack on the Kurdish cultural center in Paris on Friday claimed the lives of three Kurds and left three others injured.
A 69-year-old French man, a retired train engineer, is in police custody in connection to the attack.
HDP Co-chairperson Mithat Sancar, speaking at a protest held in the eastern province of Batman on Sunday, said there are questions regarding the attack in Paris and the fact that the murder of three Kurdish women in Paris 10 years ago has gone unresolved raises more doubts regarding the background of the attack.
“The French government should shed light on these murders and should immediately reveal the mastermind,” said Sancar, adding that solving the murders is important for preventing similar tragedies in the future.
Friday’s shooting in Paris came shortly before the 10th anniversary of the murder of three Kurdish women in Paris. 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.
Despite the fact that Güney was the only suspect in remand, the investigation had found some evidence that the Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (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.
Meanwhile, İstanbul police detained 14 people on Monday who wanted to stage a protest in front of the French Consulate General in Taksim over the killing of the three Kurds in Paris on Friday, the Mezopotamya news agency reported.
Among the protestors were artists and members of civil society organizations and political parties. The police prevented the group from holding the protest due to a ban imposed by the Beyoğlu District Governor’s Office in the area.