Three Kurds were shot dead in Paris on Friday. Some demonstrators then indicated that the perpetrator was close to Turkey – “anti-Turkish propaganda”, according to Ankara.
In connection with the fatal shooting of three Kurds in Paris and the subsequent protests, the Turkish government summoned the French ambassador on Monday. Ankara protested that the French authorities had not done enough to counter “anti-Turkish propaganda,” according to diplomatic sources.
“We have expressed our dissatisfaction with the propaganda launched against our country by PKK circles and that the French government and some politicians are being used as a propaganda tool,” it said in Ankara.
69-year-old admitted “pathological hatred” for foreigners
In the attack on Friday, the alleged perpetrator, a 69-year-old Frenchman, shot dead three people and injured three others near a Kurdish cultural center in Paris. According to prosecutors, he admitted a “pathological hatred” of foreigners.
The act sparked protests from Kurdish groups and their supporters. Some of the demonstrators waved flags of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey and most western countries, including the US and the EU. Alleged connections between Turkey and the alleged perpetrator were indicated on some posters.
On Monday, an investigating judge initiated an official investigation against the 69-year-old and ordered him to be held in custody. Murder and attempted murder on grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion, and illicit acquisition and possession of firearms are being investigated, according to sources in the judiciary.