Turkey not a likely suspect in Paris execution: French experts

ISTANBUL

A woman of Kurdish origin holds a poster showing the photos of the three Kurdish women activists killed overnight in Paris next to a boy holding a cardboard reading "Turkey assassin, Hollande complicit" during a demonstration on January 10, 2013 in central Marseille. AFP photo

The execution of three Kurdish activists at an information center in Paris does not appear to have been conducted by Turkish authorities, according to French antiterrorist experts, daily Le Figaro reported today.

"I don't think the Turkish state could have done this type of an operation in France. Police and judicial cooperation is one of the areas where Paris and Ankara agree the best. In these circumstances, it is unthinkable, even ridiculous, to see the secret service behind this matter," a specialist policeman told the daily.

Sakine Cansız, one of the founders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Fidan Doğan and Leyla Söylemez were all shot execution-style on Jan. 9 by a perpetrator or perpetrators who locked the door to the Kurdish Information Center after the killings.

"It’s difficult to imagine Turkish intelligence conducting operations on Kurds, here in France – especially in the context of the current negotiations with the community," a judge said.

One anonymous source said French police had discovered cartridge cases and luggage near the women’s bodies, daily Le Monde reported. "But it does not imply anything, since we do not yet know who owns the luggage."

French police have launched an investigation to find possible suspects. Law enforcement officers are first looking into the possibility that the women were killed as part of an internal struggle within the PKK, although Le Figaro noted that the Grey Wolves, an ultranationalist Turkish organization, might also be responsible.

French President François Hollande said he knew one of the women killed in the murders, adding that she would regularly visit French authorities, according to Anatolia news agency.

"I knew one of the three women. She was a figure I and many political actors knew," Hollande was quote as saying.

"The investigation into the murders is continuing. The right thing now is to wait and find out who killed them and why," Hollande said.

Roz Walat, a PKK spokesman from the Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq, said the PKK would not take any position on the crime until the conclusion of the French police's investigation, according to Le Monde.