Ankara must try to solve killings, not just close the case: BDP

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

Turkey’s government should make an official attempt to solve the killings of three Kurdish women in Paris instead of trying to close the matter by chalking it up to an internal feud among militants, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has said.

“It is obvious that [the incident] is a wild massacre. The killings cannot be thought of independently from the recent [peace] progress … in Turkey," Demirtaş said at Atatürk Airport before flying to France. "The statements made by the government were highly frivolous. Solving this incident is not a must and responsibility just for us, but also for the government."

Demirtaş criticized government officials for immediately suggesting the killings of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Söylemez were part of an internal feud within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) when Turkish circles were also under suspicion. Instead, the BDP co-head said Ankara should put pressure on Paris to solve the murders. "This is what we expect from the government."

Demirtaş and his co-leader, Gültan Kışanak, traveled to Paris to speak with French authorities about the issue and attend funeral ceremonies for the victims.

The three, including Cansız, one of the PKK’s founders, were found dead with gunshot wounds on Jan. 10 in central Paris, raising questions about the perpetrators just as Turkey and the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Öcalan, have launched fresh talks to settle the Kurdish issue.