Groups rally in Paris for assassinated Kurdish women on 2nd anniversary

PARIS / ANKARA

AA Photo

A group marched in central Paris on Jan. 10 in protest at the fact that the suspects of the killing of three Kurdish women have still not been brought to justice, on the second anniversary of the assassinations. 

The group gathered at the Democratic Society Center, near the Gare du Nord train station, from where they marched to Stalingrad Square, before leaving a wreath in front of the Kurdistan Information Office, where the murders took place.

Sakine Cansız, 55, a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK); Fidan Doğan, 32, a spokeswoman for the organization in France and Europe; and a trainee named Leyla Şaylemez, 25, were killed in Paris on Jan. 9, 2013.

Protesters chanted slogans as they carried placards reading “Je suis Charlie, Je suis Sakine, Je suis Fidan, Je suis Leyla,” symbolically linking their march with the Charlie Hebdo ceremonies also taking place on the same day.

Meanwhile, another group staged a protest in the Turkish capital Ankara on the same day, carrying photographs of the assassinated women.

Two people were arrested day earlier after carrying PKK flags during a protest in the eastern province of Tunceli.

Figan Yüksekdağ, the co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was also present at the protest in Tunceli.

In September, Turkish police reopened an investigation into Ömer Güney, the prime suspect in the killings, in order to probe the suspects’ movements in Turkey ahead of the murders.

One 30-year-old suspect, named Ömer Günay, is the only name released by the French police connected to the murders.

Turkish police are seeking to shed light on the details of Güney’s visit to Turkey just 19 days before the murders were committed.