Killing of Kurds in Paris ‘an Assassination’
A tribute to assassinated PKK activist, Sakine Cansiz, at the Kurdish cultural centre in Paris. (Photo: REUTERS/Charles Platiau)
Three Kurdish women were murdered in Paris last night, execution style.
The French Interior Minister, Manuel Valls, described it as an assassination.
All were activists for the PKK, the militant group that’s long fought for Kurdish rights in Turkey.
One was a PKK co-founder, a woman called Sakine Cansiz.
The US and Turkey call the PKK a terrorist group.
The killings come at a sensitive time, says Newsweek’s Paris Bureau Chief, Christopher Dickey.
“Only yesterday it was announced,” says Dickey, that the main leader of the PKK, “had reached an agreement (with Turkey) for a roadmap to end the 30-year-old insurgency.”
Paris has “a long, grim tradition of murder linked to the Middle East,” Dickey adds.
The World is an independent newsroom. We’re not funded by billionaires; instead, we rely on readers and listeners like you. As a listener, you’re a crucial part of our team and our global community. Your support is vital to running our nonprofit newsroom, and we can’t do this work without you. Will you support The World with a gift today? Donations made between now and Dec. 31 will be matched 1:1. Thanks for investing in our work!