Detained PKK official’s identity revelaed as Uzun

PARIS

French police have arrested Adem Uzun, a head of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in Europe, the free French daily 20 Minutes has reported.

French police detained Uzun and three other members of the PKK this weekend, judicial sources said.

Police detained the alleged leader and another man in Paris on Oct. 6, while two others were detained Oct. 7 in the northwestern communes of Evron and Saint-Ouen-l’Aumone. The arrests were part of an investigation into alleged terrorism financing and association with a terrorist group that was launched in July, the judicial sources said. Uzun is claimed to be involved in Oslo talks, the secret meetings between representatives of the Turkish government and the PKK that were allegedly held in Oslo, Norway between 2009 and 2011.

The U.S. Department of Treasury in 2004 announced the designation of PKK leaders Cemil Bayık, Duran Kalkan, Remzi Kartal, Sabri Ok and Adem Uzun as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act).