Turkish newspaper office torched in Germany: police

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

REUTERS Photo

Arsonists torched the headquarters of the Turkish-language newspaper Zaman in the western German city of Cologne, police said Thursday, amid suspicions Kurdish militants might be to blame.
 
Two people, aged 17 and 22, have been arrested for the suspected attack, which happened on Wednesday night, a Cologne police spokeswoman told AFP.

A cafe frequented by Cologne's Turkish community was also attacked at around 10:30 pm local time (2130 GMT) on Wednesday, the police said.
 
Authorities have not ruled out a link to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered by the European Union and Turkey as a terrorist organisation.
 
"In one of the two cases, we have evidence that a substance was used to spread the fire," the spokeswoman said.
 
"Typical PKK slogans were shouted" during the two Cologne attacks, she added.
 

February 15 marked the 13th anniversary of the arrest of PKK chief Abdullah Öcalan.
 
Conservative newspaper Zaman sells more than 28,000 editions daily to Germany's large Turkish community, the largest grouping outside Turkey.