French justice authorities scrambled for clues Thursday into the assassination of three women in a Kurdish institute in Paris — a crime that appeared to have clear political overtones. Two of the victims were shot in the head, in what Interior Minister Manuel Valls said was “no doubt an execution.” One of them was Sakine Cansiz, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group that has waged an often violent Kurdish separatist struggle against Turkey and which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the E.U.

The slayings come at a sensitive time. Turkish media report that the Ankara government has recently made progress toward ending the nearly three decades of violence through unpublicized peace talks with some PKK leaders, included jailed PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan. Such peace talks are not supported by all PKK militants — a strategic division that may have caused a schism within the group.

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Reports on Thursday quoted top Turkish politicians speculating that the Paris murders were a result of “an internal feud” within the PKK. But that claim was rejected by many of the hundreds of Kurds who gathered Thursday morning outside the Kurdish Information Center in Paris where the killings took place; instead, they blamed Ankara.

“The murder of these three Kurdish women, at this time, is a political crime,” Berivan Akyol, a worker at the center, told French news channel i-télé. “These three victims … represent all Kurds.”

The deceased had apparently been shot Wednesday afternoon and were discovered around 1 a.m. Thursday after concerned colleagues failed to reach them by phone. In addition to PKK co-founder Cansiz, a woman described as a representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress was among the dead. According to the Firat news agency — which is considered sympathetic to the Kurdish cause — two of the women were shot in the head and a third in the stomach by a silencer-fitted gun.

French security officials tell TIME it’s too early to openly speculate about who was behind the killings, though two obvious theories are already under consideration. Given the brutality with which Turkey has at times sought to suppress Kurdish nationalism and the violent methods sometimes used by the PKK in its struggle for autonomy, French authorities believe that both scenarios — an assassination ordered by the PKK’s enemies or a deadly factional split — are equally plausible.

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The first thesis, said a French security official who did not want to be quoted, might aim at weakening PKK factions hostile to negotiating an end to the conflict. The second, he added, might seek to further widen the split between rival PKK camps over peace talks, thereby hampering further efforts in striking a deal with Turkey. But whatever the motive for the killings, Valls pledged to bring to justice those responsible.

“The antiterrorism and [homicide] units have been mobilized to shed light on this absolutely intolerable act,” Valls said Thursday morning outside the Kurdish center, not far from Paris’ Gare du Nord train station. “I have come to express my compassion for those who are close to these three women.”

Valls was also addressing the hundreds of sorrowful and angry Kurds who’d flocked to the center early Thursday, chanting Ocalan’s name and “We are all PKK.” About 150,000 Kurds live in France, many as political exiles. Meanwhile, despite the PKK’s terrorist designation, the organization has enjoyed the ambivalent support of many in Europe sympathetic to the Kurdish plight.

That ambivalence has at times also been reflected by French justice officials. While authorities have repeatedly arrested militants suspected of organizing or financing acts of PKK terrorism, less troublesome party members and sympathizers are generally left alone. The 28-year battle between the PKK and Turkey has claimed about 40,000 lives, with violence at times having spilled into other countries. The chants of “A political solution for Kurdistan” among Kurdish mourners in Paris on Thursday appeared to express hopes that this new trio of deaths in that struggle will be the last.

via Kurdish Assassinations in Paris Put Spotlight on Turkey-PKK Talks | TIME.com.

Turkey has condemned the killing of three Kurdish women activists in Paris, calling the murders a “summary execution.”

Portraits of presumed victims are seen pinned on a member of the Kurdish community’s coat at they gather next to the entrance of the Information Centre of Kurdistan in Paris.

Portraits of presumed victims are seen pinned on a member of the Kurdish community’s coat at they gather next to the entrance of the Information Centre of Kurdistan in Paris. Photo: REUTERS

3:21PM GMT 10 Jan 2013

Bulent Arinc, a government spokesman, said the deaths were “carried out in the manner of a summary execution”.

“This is utterly wrong. I express my condolences,” he said.

His remarks came just hours after three Kurdish women, a co-founder of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and two other activists, were found shot dead in Paris early on Thursday, in what French authorities labelled an “assassination.”

Speaking from Senegal, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was “too soon to comment” but the incident could be a “provocation” coming at a time when peace talks between the state and the PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan were under way.

The slayings came as Turkey was holding peace talks with the group to try to persuade it to disarm. A Turkish lawmaker claimed the women were slain in a dispute between PKK factions, while some Kurdish protesters and a Kurdish lawmaker in Turkey claimed the Turkish government was involved.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency identified one of the victims as Sakine Cansiz, a founding member of the PKK.

The conflict between the PKK and Turkish troops has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984, when the rebels – who are seeking self-rule for Kurds in southeast Turkey – took up arms.

Manuel Valls, the French interior minister, who visited the pro-Kurdish centre in Paris where the bodies were found, said the deaths were “without doubt an execution.” He called it a “totally intolerable act.”

RTL radio reported that all three women were shot in the head, but French police would not immediately confirm the report.

Emotions mounted as hundreds of Kurds filled the street in Paris outside the Kurdistan Information Center. Police erected barricades to try to contain the crowd. Some people waved Kurdish flags while others chanted angrily against the Turkish government.

An online site for Kurdish youth called on all Kurds and “friends of Kurds to come to Paris.” The site, jeunessekurde.fr, showed three photos of the slain women. It identified the other two as Fidan Dogan, who reportedly was chief of the information centre, and Leyla Soylemez.

Kurds make up more than 20 per cent of Turkey’s 75 million people.

The three women were alone at the centre on Wednesday and were unreachable by telephone, said Leon Edart, an official of the Federation of Kurdish Associations of France.

In Turkey, Selahattin Demirtas, the leader of a Kurdish political party in Turkey’s parliament, called on the French government to shed light on the killings “without delay” and in a way that “leaves no room” for doubt.

“We want it to be known that that these assassinations which were carried in the busiest area of Paris cannot be covered up,” Demirtas said.

Huseyin Celik, the deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling party, said the attack appeared to be the result of “an internal feud” within the PKK, but did not provide any evidence to back his statement.

Celik also suggested the slayings were an attempt to derail the peace talks.

The PKK does have a history of internal executions. While many Kurdish activists and militants were victims of extra-judicial killings blamed on Turkish government forces in the 1990s, it’s not known whether they also targeted any exiled Kurds in Europe.

In the streets of Paris, the protesters blamed Turkey.

“Where are French? Where is that solidarity? I think that the state of Turkey did this,” said one man in the Paris crowd, identifying himself only as Ali.

Turkey frequently accuses, France, Germany and the Netherlands – home to large numbers of Kurds from Turkey – of supporting the PKK, failing to extradite wanted militants and of not backing Turkey’s “fight against terrorism.”

Turkish officials say the PKK raises funds through extortion or other criminal activities in European countries that have a large number of Kurdish immigrants.

France has a large Kurdish community concentrated in the Paris region and French police have occasionally arrested Kurds suspected of illegally financing the PKK.

via Turkey condemns killing of Kurdish activists – Telegraph.