Search This Blog

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Kurdish PKK co-founder shot dead in Paris (VIDEO)




Three Kurdish women activists - including a co-founder of the militant nationalist PKK - have been found dead with gunshot wounds in a Kurdish information centre in Paris.
The bodies of Sakine Cansiz and two others were found on Thursday.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the killings were "intolerable".
The motive for the shootings is unclear. Some 40,000 people have died in the 25-year conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK.
However, Turkey has recently begun talks with the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, with the aim of persuading the group to disarm.
The deputy chairman of the ruling party, Husein Celik, said that the killings appeared to be the result of an internal Kurdish feud.
The theory was later picked up by other officials and commentators in the Turkish media, who suggested that PKK factions opposed to the talks were to blame.
But Kurdish activists said the killings were carried out by forces in the Turkish state itself who wanted to derail the talks.
Our correspondent says that in Turkey many believe that there is a so-called "deep state" - a powerful nationalistic establishment which seeks to undermine the work of democratic governments and activists.
Locked doors
The three women were last seen inside the information centre of the Kurdish institute on Wednesday afternoon. A member of the Kurdish community tried to visit the centre but found the doors were locked.
Their bodies - all three bearing gunshot wounds - were found in the early hours on Thursday.
One of them was Sakine Cansiz, who was detained and tortured in Turkey in the 1980s, and was close to Ocalan.
A second woman has been named as Fidan Dogan, 32, who worked in the information centre. She was also the Paris representative of the Brussels-based Kurdistan National Congress.
The third, named as Leyla Soylemez, was a young activist.
Members of the Kurdish community demonstrated outside the information centre as Mr Valls arrived.
The three women were "undoubtedly [summarily] executed", Mr Valls said, adding that the French authorities were determined to "shed light on this act".
"In this neighbourhood, in this Kurdish information centre, in the 10th arrondissement [district] where many Kurds live, I also came to express my sympathy to the relatives and close friends of these three women," he said.
A representative of the Federation of Kurdish Assocations in France (Feyka), Leon Edart, told the French BFM news channel that there were no CCTV cameras in the office.
The PKK took up arms in 1984, and demands greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurds, who are thought to comprise up to 20% of the population.
It is regarded by Turkey, the US and European Union as a terrorist organisation, because of its attacks on Turkish security forces and civilians.
In 2012 it stepped up its attacks, leading to the fiercest fighting in decades, but violence has subsided during the winter.


No comments:

Post a Comment


Category

1915 Armenian Genocide 21st-century Christian martyrs‎ Al Qaeda Apostles Arab Christian Arab-Orthodox Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov Asia Australia BBC Belarusian Orthodox Church Bethlehem Bible movies Bulgarian Orthodox Church Byzantine C.I.A. Cairo China Christian Armenians Christmas Traditions Christmas tree Conspiracy Constantinople Documentary Easter Ecumenical Patriarch Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi Elder Porphyrios Epiphany FREE Greetings Cards FREE books Fr Seraphim Rose Georgian Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Easter Holy Fathers Holy Scripture Holy Tradition Internet Interview Italy Jesus Christ Middle East Miraculous Icon Mount Sinai Movie Trailers Orthodox Church in America Palestine Prophecy Russia Russian Orthodox Church Saints Shroud of Turin Son of God St Nicholas of Myra The Mount Athos Food Evolution UK Ukraine Ukrainian Orthodox Church Vatican Watch FREE full movie africa al assad albania anti-Morsi protests army bank bible bible translations bulgaria byzantine music christianity christians christmas church coptic church copts cyprus daily news economy egypt egypt pope elder elder Paisios elder joseph of vatopaidi english subtitles europe food france fyrmacedonia germany greece greek greek food greek music greek orthodoxy health and medicine icon iran islam islamist israel jerusalem jews jihad killed libya mafia monastery money mother of god mount athos music muslim muslims news orthodox church pakistan patristic tradition photo photos picture politics pope protests quotes recipes religion romania romanian orthodox church saint science spy syria theotokos travel turkey tv usa vatopaidi video war world
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...