New developments in Paris killings threaten to derail PKK peace talks
The Kurdish peace process in Turkey faces a new obstacle as leaked documents raise suspicions that Turkish intelligence was behind the slaying of three Kurdish activists in Paris last year.
On Jan. 10, 2013, three women, members of the Kurdish diaspora in Europe, were found shot and killed in an information center run by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Paris. The brutal executions sparked outrage among Turkey’s Kurds and raised serious concerns that an attempt was underway to sabotage peace talks between the PKK and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan himself described the assassinations as an attempt to wipe out the peace process.
The French police, however, quickly caught a suspect, Omer Guney, who turned out to belong to the PKK just as the slain women and had even served as a driver to one of them, senior PKK member Sakine Cansiz. That’s how Guney got access to the building.
Following Guney's arrest, interest in the slayings began to wane in Turkey. The incident was almost forgotten until a few days ago, when two leaks sparked controversy over whether Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) had a hand in the crime.
First, an audio recording posted on the Internet revealed a conversation between Guney and two purported MIT operatives. The exchanges suggest the three men were planning the killings. The purported MIT pair discussed with Guney some sort of checklist, advising him to wear gloves during the attack and being careful of security cameras around the building and suggesting escape routes. The person who leaked the recording claimed in a note to be a confidant of Guney's whom Guney had asked “to release this document in case something happens” to him.
